Łazienki Palace
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Łazienki Palace [ɫaˈʑenki] (Polish: Pałac Łazienkowski) also called Palace on the Water (Polish: Pałac na Wodzie) or Palace on the Isle (Polish: Pałac na Wyspie) is a Neoclassical palace in Łazienki Park in Warsaw.
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[edit] History
The palace was originally built in Baroque style in the 17th century by Tylman van Gameren for Stanisław Lubomirski, and was then called 'Lubomirski's Bathhouse' (Polish: Łazienka Lubomirskiego). Other artists that contrbuted to the palace include sculptors Andrzej Le Bruyn, Jakub Monaldi and Franciszek Pinck, and painters Marcello Bacciarelli and Jan Bogumił Plerchs.
From 1772 to 1793 Dominico Merlini altered the building for the King of Poland, Stanisław August Poniatowski, who made it his summer residence.Interiors were designed by Jan Chrystian Kamsetzer. A bathing pavilion was built in Chinoiserie taste. The park, today a beautiful medley of architectural styles, was then graced with reliefs and painted Dutch tiles. The palace was refurbished with neoclassical furniture and paintings. After Stanisław's death the palace was inherited by his family; first by prince Józef Antoni Poniatowski. After the First Partition of Poland, in 1817 the palace was taken by the Russian government and became one of the residences of Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia. After Poland regained independence in 1918 it became a national museum, part of National Collection of Art (Polish: Państwowe Zbiory Sztuki), and after the Treaty of Riga (1921) it was refilled with collections once removed and now returned by Russians. The collection were evacuated during the Siege of Warsaw in 1939 to National Museum in Warsaw. During the German occupation in the Second World War the Palace was closed to the Polish public. The Palace on the Water was set on fire on purpose by German forces after the Warsaw Uprising, but German forces retreated before they had time to finalize their plans to blow up the building. It was rebuilt after the Second World War but much of its original interior decoration was lost in the fire. After the war the Palace became the property of National Museum in Warsaw and is the location of the Royal Bath Museum (Polish: Muzeum Łazienki Królewskie). Major renovation work took place for many years, until the 1960s.
[edit] Architecture and plan
The palace is built on an artificial island that divides the lake into two parts, a smaller northern lake and a bigger southern lake; it is connected by two Ionic colonnaded bridges to the rest of the park. The façades are unified by an entablature carried by a giant Corinthian order of pilasters that links its two floors and is crowned by a balustrade that bears statues of mythological figures. The north façade is relieved by a central pedimented portico. On the south front a deep central recess lies behind a screen of the Corinthian order carried across its front. On the ground floor of the palace is the "Bacchus-room", the royal baths, the ballroom, the portrait cabinet, the Salomon room, the rotunda with the figures of the Polish kings, the lower picture gallery which contains minor works by Rembrandt[1], and the castle chapel. Also on the ground floor is the dining room in which the famous "Thursday Dinners" took place, to which king Stanisław August Poniatowski invited important Freemasons and other notable members from the era of Enlightenment in Poland. On the first floor are the royal apartments, the upper picture gallery, the balcony room, the king's cabinet, the royal bed chambers, the cloakroom, and the officer's room.
[edit] See also
- Theatre on the Isle, a companion to the Palace on the Isle
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