Lazienki Palace
Encyclopedia
The Łazienki Palace —in English, the Baths Palace; also called the Palace on the Water, or Water Palace , and the Palace on the Isle —is a Neoclassical
palace in Warsaw
's Royal Baths Park.
. After 1678 the Lubomirski palace complex in Ujazdów, was enriched with four park pavilions
: Arcadia
, Hermitage
, Frascati and the largest of them the Bathhouse. The marble building was constructed before 1683 according to design by Tylman Gamerski
. Finished in 1689, it was intended to serve as a bathhouse, habitable pavilion and a garden grotto
. Interiors of the newly built structure were embellished with profuse stucco
decorations, also designed by Gamerski. Among the decorations were water deities
(like Nereus
), surrounding the main decorational feature of the pavilion - the fountain
. Other chambers had richly decorated plafond
s and supraportes
, while the walls were covered with Delft tiles
. The façades and interiors were decorated with sculptures, reliefs, Latin inscriptions (Musa Dryas, Nymphaeque boves et Pastor Apollo / Hic maneant, fugiat diva Minerva domus - Muse
, dryad
and nymphs, bullocks
and Apollo
the shepherd
let stay here, the divine Minerva
let disdain this house on the portal of the southern façade) and Lubomirski coat of arms - Szreniawa.
Stanisław August Poniatowski decided to convert it into private quarters, and it was remodeled by Domenico Merlini
between 1764 to 1795. During World War II, the Germans drilled holes into the walls for explosives but never got around to blowing up the palace. Afterwards the palace served as a barracks.
The palace is built on an artificial island that divides the lake into two parts, a smaller northern lake and a larger southern one. The palace is connected to the surrounding park by two Ionic colonnaded
bridges. The façades are unified by an entablature
carried by giant Corinthian
pilasters that link its two floors and are crowned by a balustrade that bears statues of mythologic figures. The north façade is relieved by a central pedimented portico. On the south front, a deep central recess lies behind a screen of Corinthian columns.
' workshop depicting Silenus and Bacchantes
. The 1778 ceiling painting, Bacchus, Ceres, Venus and Cupid by Jan Bogumił Plersch, was destroyed by German forces in 1944. The Rotunda, designed by Domenico Merlini
, occupies the central portion of the palace. Decorated in yellow and white marble, with figures of the Polish kings, it is one of the most important examples of neoclassical decoration within the palace. It leads to the Bath Room and the Ballroom. On the other side of the Rotunda is the lower Picture Gallery, which contains minor works by Rubens and Rembrandt, and the 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 leading Freemasons and other notables of the Polish Enlightenment
. Its furniture and paintings are in the Classicist style.
The Solomon Room, one of the largest of the palace's ground-floor interiors, was embellished with a series of paintings depicting the History of Solomon. It comprised six paintings: The Dream of Solomon (plafond
), The Queen of Sheba before Solomon, The Judgment of Solomon, Consultation with King Hiram (friezes), Dedication of the Temple and Solomon's Sacrifice (walls). They were executed for King Stanisław Augustus in 1791–93 by Marcello Bacciarelli
and depicted the monarch himself as the biblical king. All these paintings were deliberately and completely destroyed by the Germans in 1944 (burned in a fire before the palace) during the preparations to blow up
the building. 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.
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
palace in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
's Royal Baths Park.
History
The building began as a bathhouse for Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski, owner of adjacent Ujazdów CastleUjazdów Castle
Ujazdów Castle is a castle in the historic Ujazdów district, between Ujazdów Park and the Royal Baths Park , in Warsaw, Poland.-History:...
. After 1678 the Lubomirski palace complex in Ujazdów, was enriched with four park pavilions
Pavilion (structure)
In architecture a pavilion has two main meanings.-Free-standing structure:Pavilion may refer to a free-standing structure sited a short distance from a main residence, whose architecture makes it an object of pleasure. Large or small, there is usually a connection with relaxation and pleasure in...
: Arcadia
Arcadia (utopia)
Arcadia refers to a vision of pastoralism and harmony with nature. The term is derived from the Greek province of the same name which dates to antiquity; the province's mountainous topography and sparse population of pastoralists later caused the word Arcadia to develop into a poetic byword for an...
, Hermitage
Hermitage (religious retreat)
Although today's meaning is usually a place where a hermit lives in seclusion from the world, hermitage was more commonly used to mean a settlement where a person or a group of people lived religiously, in seclusion.-Western Christian Tradition:...
, Frascati and the largest of them the Bathhouse. The marble building was constructed before 1683 according to design by Tylman Gamerski
Tylman van Gameren
Tylman van Gameren was a Dutch-born Polish architect and engineer who, at the age of 28, settled in Poland and worked for Queen Maria Kazimiera, wife of Poland's King Jan III Sobieski...
. Finished in 1689, it was intended to serve as a bathhouse, habitable pavilion and a garden grotto
Grotto
A grotto is any type of natural or artificial cave that is associated with modern, historic or prehistoric use by humans. When it is not an artificial garden feature, a grotto is often a small cave near water and often flooded or liable to flood at high tide...
. Interiors of the newly built structure were embellished with profuse stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
decorations, also designed by Gamerski. Among the decorations were water deities
Water deity
A water deity is a deity in mythology associated with water or various bodies of water. Water deities are common in mythology and were usually more important among civilizations in which the sea or ocean, or a great river was more important...
(like Nereus
Nereus
In Greek mythology, Nereus was the eldest son of Pontus and Gaia , a Titan who with Doris fathered the Nereids, with whom Nereus lived in the Aegean Sea. In the Iliad the Old Man of the Sea is the father of Nereids, though Nereus is not directly named...
), surrounding the main decorational feature of the pavilion - the fountain
Fountain
A fountain is a piece of architecture which pours water into a basin or jets it into the air either to supply drinking water or for decorative or dramatic effect....
. Other chambers had richly decorated plafond
Plafond
Plafond , in a broad sense, is any ceiling of any premise.Plafond can be product of monumental and decorative painting and sculpture; subject or ornamental – also is designated by the term "Plafond"...
s and supraportes
Overdoor
An "overdoor" is a painting, bas-relief or decorative panel, generally in a horizontal format, that is set, typically within ornamental mouldings, over a door, or was originally intended for this purpose.The overdoor is usually architectural in form, but may take the form of a cartouche in Rococo...
, while the walls were covered with Delft tiles
Delftware
Delftware, or Delft pottery, denotes blue and white pottery made in and around Delft in the Netherlands and the tin-glazed pottery made in the Netherlands from the 16th century....
. The façades and interiors were decorated with sculptures, reliefs, Latin inscriptions (Musa Dryas, Nymphaeque boves et Pastor Apollo / Hic maneant, fugiat diva Minerva domus - Muse
Muse
The Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths...
, dryad
Dryad
Dryads are tree nymphs in Greek mythology. In Greek drys signifies 'oak,' from an Indo-European root *derew- 'tree' or 'wood'. Thus Dryads are specifically the nymphs of oak trees, though the term has come to be used for all tree nymphs in general...
and nymphs, bullocks
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
and Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
the shepherd
Shepherd
A shepherd is a person who tends, feeds or guards flocks of sheep.- Origins :Shepherding is one of the oldest occupations, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool...
let stay here, the divine Minerva
Minerva
Minerva was the Roman goddess whom Romans from the 2nd century BC onwards equated with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the virgin goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic...
let disdain this house on the portal of the southern façade) and Lubomirski coat of arms - Szreniawa.
Stanisław August Poniatowski decided to convert it into private quarters, and it was remodeled by Domenico Merlini
Domenico Merlini
Domenico Merlini was an Italian-Polish architect whose work was mostly in the classical style.-Life and Style:...
between 1764 to 1795. During World War II, the Germans drilled holes into the walls for explosives but never got around to blowing up the palace. Afterwards the palace served as a barracks.
Architecture
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
bridges. The façades are unified by an entablature
Entablature
An entablature refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and are commonly divided into the architrave , the frieze ,...
carried by giant Corinthian
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
pilasters that link its two floors and are crowned by a balustrade that bears statues of mythologic figures. The north façade is relieved by a central pedimented portico. On the south front, a deep central recess lies behind a screen of Corinthian columns.
Interiors
On the palace's ground floor is the Bacchus Room, decorated with 17th-century Dutch blue tiles and a painting from Jacob JordaensJacob Jordaens
Jacob Jordaens was one of three Flemish Baroque painters, along with Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, to bring prestige to the Antwerp school of painting. Unlike those contemporaries he never traveled abroad to study Italian painting, and his career is marked by an indifference to their...
' workshop depicting Silenus and Bacchantes
Maenad
In Greek mythology, maenads were the female followers of Dionysus , the most significant members of the Thiasus, the god's retinue. Their name literally translates as "raving ones"...
. The 1778 ceiling painting, Bacchus, Ceres, Venus and Cupid by Jan Bogumił Plersch, was destroyed by German forces in 1944. The Rotunda, designed by Domenico Merlini
Domenico Merlini
Domenico Merlini was an Italian-Polish architect whose work was mostly in the classical style.-Life and Style:...
, occupies the central portion of the palace. Decorated in yellow and white marble, with figures of the Polish kings, it is one of the most important examples of neoclassical decoration within the palace. It leads to the Bath Room and the Ballroom. On the other side of the Rotunda is the lower Picture Gallery, which contains minor works by Rubens and Rembrandt, and the chapel. Also on the ground floor is the Dining Room in which the famous Thursday Dinners
Thursday Dinners
The Thursday Dinners were meetings of artists, intellectuals, and statesmen held by the last King of Poland, Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski in the era of Enlightenment in Poland....
took place, to which King Stanisław August Poniatowski invited leading Freemasons and other notables of the Polish Enlightenment
Enlightenment in Poland
The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment in Poland were developed later than in the Western Europe, as Polish bourgeoisie was weaker, and szlachta culture together with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth political system were in deep crisis...
. Its furniture and paintings are in the Classicist style.
The Solomon Room, one of the largest of the palace's ground-floor interiors, was embellished with a series of paintings depicting the History of Solomon. It comprised six paintings: The Dream of Solomon (plafond
Plafond
Plafond , in a broad sense, is any ceiling of any premise.Plafond can be product of monumental and decorative painting and sculpture; subject or ornamental – also is designated by the term "Plafond"...
), The Queen of Sheba before Solomon, The Judgment of Solomon, Consultation with King Hiram (friezes), Dedication of the Temple and Solomon's Sacrifice (walls). They were executed for King Stanisław Augustus in 1791–93 by Marcello Bacciarelli
Marcello Bacciarelli
Marcello Bacciarelli was an Italian painter of the late-baroque and Neoclassic periods.He studied in Rome under Marco Benefial. In 1750 he was called to Dresden, Saxony, where he was employed by Elected King Augustus III of Poland; after whose death he went to Vienna, and thence to Warsaw...
and depicted the monarch himself as the biblical king. All these paintings were deliberately and completely destroyed by the Germans in 1944 (burned in a fire before the palace) during the preparations to blow up
Planned destruction of Warsaw
The planned destruction of Warsaw refers to the largely realised plans by Nazi Germany to completely raze the city. The plan was put into full motion after the Warsaw Uprising in 1944...
the building. 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.