Castle in Baranów Sandomierski
Medals for sale in the castle courtyard!
On the right bank of the Vistula, shines the most valuable and beautiful former magnate residence – the castle in Baranów Sandomierski. This impressive piece of Renaissance architecture is one of the best preserved in Europe.
The castle was built at the end of the 16th century, on the site of a medieval, defensive knight’s manor. In the 15th century, the Baranowski manor belonged to the noble Baranowski family. At the turn of the 15th/16th century, the family Górka from Wielkopolska became the owner of Baranów. In 1569, Stanisław Górka sold the Baranów estate to Rafał Leszczyński. The present shape of the Castle is impressive evidence of the refined style of the wealthy Leszczyński family. The Castle’s magnificent architecture, modelled on the royal Wawel Castle ‘Little Wawel’, is most probably due to the Italian architect and sculptor Santi Gucci. The last Castle owner from the Leszczyński family was Rafał X, whose son-Stanisław Leszczyński was King of Poland.
The castle in Baranów Sandomierski passed successively into the possession of the families: Wiśniowiecki, Sanguszko, Lubomirski, Małachowski, Potocki and Krasicki families. In 1867 the Baranów estate, put up for auction, was purchased by Feliks Dolański. The Castle was then inherited by Stanisław Dolański, who decided to restore it after it had been destroyed by fire in 1898. Under the direction of the Cracovian architect Tadeusz Stryjeński, changes were made to the layout of the rooms. Among other things, an Art Nouveau chapel was arranged in the ground floor corner chamber. The Chapel was decorated with impressive stained-glass windows by Józef Mehoffer and an altarpiece with an exceptional painting by Jacek Malczewski, ‘Immaculate Mother of God’. The castle remained in the possession of the Dolanski family until the Second World War.
After its destruction during World War II, the Castle was rebuilt and restored by the State in 1959-1969 under the direction of Professor Alfred Majewski. The building was then handed over to the Sulphur Mines and Plants ‘Siarkopol’ in Tarnobrzeg.
Erected by the Leszczynski family, the unique Castle in Baranów Sandomierski is a three-storey building. The building is set on a rectangular plan, with four round towers in the corners and a rectangular tower in the middle of the front wall. Three residential tracts: to the north, east and west, enclosed by a screen wall to the south, comprise an inner courtyard surrounded by beautiful two-storey cloisters. The Castle’s interiors are decorated by Jan Baptist Falconi and Tylman of Gameren.
