DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29195#0204
Leon Potocki’s mid-nineteenth century
book on the Potocki Palace is an in-
valuable, though nowadays almost forgot-
ten testimonial to Polish culture. Inspired
by Clio or perhaps another of the Muses,
he reminisced on the Palace’s past, tell-
ing the story of what had happened in one
ofthe grand houses of Warsaw, the variety
of whose residents and the events which oc-
curred there could serve as an outline ofthe
history of our times; in one of those houses
whose gilt dadoes, marble, and mosaics have
thwarted devastation, evaded the triumphal
usurpations of a noisy nineteenth-century
aristocracy, and come down to us replete
with vivid memories... Over a century and
a half after Potocki penned Swiqcone, czyli
Palac Potockich, alas we can no longer say
that the Palace has thwarted devastation.
A large part of it was severely damaged
during the Second World War, but like
a phoenix it has risen up from the ashes
and rubble. For several decades not only
has it been recollecting its glorious past,
but as a bastion of Polish culture in by-
gone times, now it is home to the Min-
istry whose task it is to nurture, uphold,
and promote that culture. This book tells
the fascinating story of over three hun-
dred years in the life of a fine edifice, the
paintings and sculptures that adorned it,
and the people who commissioned, cre-
ated, and admired them. The Czarto-
ryski-Potocki Palace is an extraordinary,
well-nigh magical place, or in the words
of Leon Potocki - a sanctuary of many
secrets of the past.
Jerzy Miziofek
book on the Potocki Palace is an in-
valuable, though nowadays almost forgot-
ten testimonial to Polish culture. Inspired
by Clio or perhaps another of the Muses,
he reminisced on the Palace’s past, tell-
ing the story of what had happened in one
ofthe grand houses of Warsaw, the variety
of whose residents and the events which oc-
curred there could serve as an outline ofthe
history of our times; in one of those houses
whose gilt dadoes, marble, and mosaics have
thwarted devastation, evaded the triumphal
usurpations of a noisy nineteenth-century
aristocracy, and come down to us replete
with vivid memories... Over a century and
a half after Potocki penned Swiqcone, czyli
Palac Potockich, alas we can no longer say
that the Palace has thwarted devastation.
A large part of it was severely damaged
during the Second World War, but like
a phoenix it has risen up from the ashes
and rubble. For several decades not only
has it been recollecting its glorious past,
but as a bastion of Polish culture in by-
gone times, now it is home to the Min-
istry whose task it is to nurture, uphold,
and promote that culture. This book tells
the fascinating story of over three hun-
dred years in the life of a fine edifice, the
paintings and sculptures that adorned it,
and the people who commissioned, cre-
ated, and admired them. The Czarto-
ryski-Potocki Palace is an extraordinary,
well-nigh magical place, or in the words
of Leon Potocki - a sanctuary of many
secrets of the past.
Jerzy Miziofek