Palace in Drogomyśl

The palace in Drogomyśl is a Baroque building with Neoclassical elements, surrounded by a park in which more than forty species of trees grow. For more than a hundred years it belonged to the House of Habsburg, and in the interwar years the management of the State Stud Farm operated here. Today the complex is used by a Social Welfare Centre, so the palace is viewed from the outside.

From manor house to palace

The palace was built around 1786 on the initiative of the Hungarian family of the Barons Calisch, on the site of an earlier manor house from the 16th or 17th century. In 1798 Baron Fryderyk Calisch sold the estate to Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen, during whose rule the construction of the farm buildings began. In 1822 the estate passed to Archduke Charles Louis of Habsburg, and then to his son Albrecht Friedrich Habsburg.

In 1879 the estate was damaged by fire. The palace was rebuilt and given its present form. The original building was probably two-storeyed and had a high mansard roof. The heritage register dates it to the early 18th century and gives its function as a manor house, which differs from the dating given in other sources.

The stud farm and the post-war years

In 1925-1939 the estate belonged to the State Estates Administration in Warsaw. The management of the State Stud Farm was based here, breeding stallions for the cavalry. The farm buildings contained stables, the palace offices, and a training track was laid out south of the palace. Before 1931 a garden with Modernist features was laid out in front of the palace, and in the farmyard a garden with clipped hornbeam hedges.

After war damage the palace was rebuilt in 1946-1947. In 1974 the complex was adapted for an Institute of Animal Husbandry, in 1980 for an agricultural training centre, and since 1990 it has served social welfare.

What the complex includes

Besides the palace, with a usable floor area of about 1,272 m2, there are a park, a garden, a farm building from the first half of the 19th century and a two-storey gatehouse.

Nearby stands the Evangelical-Augsburg church in Drogomyśl, and a short distance away is the stud farm in Ochaby, which fits the palace's equestrian history.

Practical information

• Address: ul. Modrzewiowa 1, Drogomyśl (Strumień municipality).
• The complex is a working social welfare institution, so the interiors are not open to visitors. The park and the building are viewed from the outside, respecting the rules in force on the centre's grounds.