Manor
1.The manor from Żyrzyn
The one-storey manor from Żyrzyn with a high-pitched gabled roof, situated almost in the centre of the exhibition of the Open Air Village Museum in Lublin, marvellously located on a hill over the valley of the Czechówka River, can be seen from almost all the village sectors of the Museum. It is the central object of the manor sector, including also: the garden-park complex with a decorative garden, a landscape park, a lawn with an avenue lined with lime trees; the farm complex with a living quarter from Brus Stary, the manor garner from Turka, a fruit orchard and the manor garner from Piotrowice along with the manor from Huta Dzierążyńska, both situated in this open area.
The manor was built the mid-13th century and it is a unique object in the history of Polish architecture for both an archetypal set-up and exceptional artistic values. It is a wooden cornerstone building which contains 12 rooms, plaster walls outside and inside and is covered by a mansard shingled roof. Three of four elevations have columned porches. The interior is made of 4 apartments, each comprised of a room and a bower, accessible from 3 hallways centrally located within the building.
The assumptions of the exhibition refer neither to the families who used to live in the building nor to any Żyrzyn facts, because since the mid- 19th century the building ceased to fulfil a residential role for landed gentry. Thus, the exhibition is an educational model concerning the time period of middle-income urban gentry in the Lubelskie region. Presumably, it is an interior of a manor from August 1939, inhabited by a middle-income, two-generation family consisting of mother, father and son.
2.The living quarter from Brus Stary
The living quarter from Brus Stary (Włodawa district), situated near to the granaries from Turka and Piotrowice and the manor from Huta Dzierążyńska, is an architectonical landmark in the farm complex within the manor sector. It is a wooden cornerstone building , covered in shingles. It was built by paid masons in the 2nd half of the 19th century, probably at the time when Stary Brus was owned by Roch Dołęga Jasieński, who settled here in 1836. At the time of the building’s transfer to the museum in 1980, it was already one of the last remaining examples of wooden living quarters in the Lubelskie region.
Originally, the interior of the living quarter comprised of 4 flats – each with a room and a chamber, as well as one hallway for each flat. In the Museum, the building was at first shown during temporary exhibitions. Later in 2002, it was renovated to include a kitchen which was modelled using elements from a historic exhibition’s manor kitchen from the 1930s in the Lubelskie region. The kitchen is designed for service and educational purposes. One can find there a banque hall and a dancing hall as well as a cooking area.
The living quarter from Brus, aside from fulfilling the role of a service area, is a well-attended place. Quaint interiors attract those willing to organise a private wedding, celebrate the First Communion or throw other parties.
3.The manor from Huta Dzierążynska
This administrator’s manor, situated near to the manor granary from Piotrowice, the manor Granary from Turka and the living quarter from Brus Stary, is a significant, visual element of the farm complex in the manor sector. Built in the 2nd half of the 19th century on a farm in Huta Dzierążynska, it was the residence of administrator Dzierążeń.
It is a wooden, large-front building, built with a cornerstone, with a column porch, plastered walls outside and inside and with a roof clad with shingles. Originally, eight rooms were placed in two rows. Its utility program, based on a symmetric set-up of the interior, presents a manor quality for the apartments for the middle-income gentry in the 18th and 19th century and for so-called residents
Nowadays, the museum in the manor contains a gift shop. There is also a temporary exhibition concerning the activity of Polish Post (Poczta Polska) in the towns of the 2nd Rzeczpospolita.
4.The manor garner from Piotrowice Wielkie
This is the biggest building in the mansion part of the farm complex. The manor granary from Piotrowice Wielkie, built in the 2nd half of the 19th century, is located in the neighbourhood of the manor from Huta Dzierążyńska. It is a wooden one-storey building with a large front, built with a cornerstone, an oblong arcade and three interiors. It has a half-hip roof covered with shingles. It represents the type of granary prevailing in manor architecture of the 18th and 19th century in the Lubelskie region. The source texts mention also garnaries comprising of one, two or more chambers. The technical solutions applied to this building, such as a support beam and the particular sizing of ceiling joists, indicate that also the attic could have been used for keeping crops.
5.The manor garner from Turka
Located next to the living quarter from Brus Stary, it is one of the elements in the manor part of the farm complex. This one-storey wooden building with a shingle roof was built in the 2nd half of the 19th century. In the 20th century, the Turek estate was owned by the Bielonski family (circa 1927, Adam Bieloński owned 120 ha of land), and then after by the Haczynski family. The granary was in the premises of the manor. In the late 70s of the 20th century, it was a unique builiding for the Lubelskie region.
The building from Turka represents the type of a two-chamber, multistoried granary of modest elevation – with no arcade, which was characteristic for this type of architecture in the 19th century. Originally, barns for crops were located on the ground floor, separated by a corridor.
6.The gate from Łańcuchów
On the axe of the avenue leading to the manor from Żyrzyn there is a wooden, stanchioned, three-arcade gate. Each part has a decorative canopy covered by shingles with small decorative figures. It was made between 1903 and 1904, in the so-called Zakopane style, and is based on an archival photo of a gate to villa „Pod Jedlami” in Zakopane, designed by Stanisław Witkiewicz (it is , therefore, a copy of the gate from Zakopane). In Łancuchów, it complemented the Stecki residence. On September 19th 1904, Jan Stecki wrote to Stanisław Witkiewicz: “In the entrance to the garden, we have a stylish gate of your design, copied in detail from a photography.”
The Gate from Łańcuchów in the Lubelskie region is an example of the so-called Zakopane style and is one of the best-known buildings made according to the design of Stanisław Witkiewicz. Architecture in the Zakopane style appeared i.a. in Nałęczów; moreover, the characteristic motifs for this style can be found on wooden everyday objects and souvenirs made in craft schools in Nałęczów. The Witkiewicz-like form of the Zakopane style spread between 1890 and1910 as a universal and native model of art, especially Polish architecture. Implementation of the Zakopane style outside Podhale was considered a patriotic act and waspopular especially among urban gentry.
7.The cross from Leokadiów
In the near of the manor from Żyrzyn, on the South-East slope of the hill in the manor park, one can find a decoratively carved wooden cross. It is a copy of the cross from Leokadiów, made in 2000 by folk sculptor, Adam Lipa from Siedliska. The original cross was made in 1919 by Feliks Flak from Nowa Zielonka, at the request of Mr and Mrs Kawka from Leokadiów. The cross was funded as an act of gratefulness and the plea for blessing for Teofil (1890-1966) and Helena (1895-1977) Kawka, who were married in 1919.
It is a latin cross made of oak, with a distinct pedestal and three-leaf ended bars, narrowing towards the interception. It is decorated with reliefs of floral and geometric motifs and sculptured arma Christi. The inscriptions cut into the pedestal are partly blurred: “Funda / torów/ tego krzyż / a małżon / ki Teofili…/ Helena…” / “Wykonawca Feliks Flak z Nowej Zielonki”. (“The sponsors of this cross, Teofil and Helena… The author Feliks Flak from Nowa Zielonka”).
8.The statue of the Holy Virgin Mary, the Queen of Poland
In a ravine next to the Żyżyn manor , on an old willow, one can find the statue of the Holy Virgin Mary, the Queen of Poland. It was sculpted in 2006 by Jan Pastuszek, a sculptor from Majdan Nepryski. Creating and placing this piece of art in the Museum was inspired by an illustration circa 1856 by Barbara Czernow, a drawing teacher in Instytut Wychowania Panien (the Institute For Young Ladies) in Puławy. It depicts a statue of the Holy Virgin Mary, the Queen of Poland, situated in “Na Kępie” in Puławy. She is dramatically portrayed between the branches of a massive tree and under it, a column with a flower vase and a plate with an inscription: “Dobrej Matce, Wdzięczne Dzieci” (For loving mother, grateful children). This statue was supposedly dedicated to Izabela of Flemings Czartoryska by her daughter Zofia of Czartoryscy Zamoyska.
In the period of enslavement, when any patriotic behaviour was brutally suppressed by the tsar, this statue – hidden in „Na Kępie”, the place beloved by the Czartoryski,– had yet another meaning, to be regarded as the message from the enslaved nation to their Protector, the Holy Virgin Mary, the Queen of Poland. We do not know how and when this statue disappeared from the „Kępa” in Puławy: Was it destroyed by tsar persecutors or storms and hurricanes? The history of Puławy remains silent.
The historic scenery rebuilt in the landscape garden near the manor from Żyrzyn in the Open Air Village Museum in Lublin has a particular symbolic meaning. It is homage paid to the initiator of the first national museum and the creator of the Polish romantic garden– Izabela Czartoryska, on the 260th anniversary of her birth.
9.The spice and herbs garden
10.The Bridge on the Czechówka River (The white bridge)
It leads through the Czechówka River to the lower garden. It is a replica of the bridge which used to be located on a distributary of the Wieprz River in the manor park in Tarnogóra.
11.The view mound
This refers to the mounds with spiral paths leading to the top These structures were popular in the 18th and 19th century.