Łańcut Castle is Łańa complex of historical buildings located in Łańcut, Poland. Historically the residence of the Pilecki, Lubomirski and Potocki families, the complex includes a number of buildings and is surrounded by a park.
The castle is one of Poland's official national Historic Monuments (Pomnik historii), as designated September 1, 2005, and tracked by the National Heritage Board of Poland.
Owners
In the second half of the 14th century, the land was the property of the Toporczyk family, who built a wooden castle on the hill. In the 16th century the castle belonged to Stadnicki family. Since the 17th century, the property was in the hands of the Lubomirski family, and then the Potocki family until 1944.
History
The castle was originally built in the second half of the 16th century, but was later modernised into a palace-residence by its owners. It was once home to two greatest Polish families – first, until 1816, the Lubomirski family, and later – until 1944 – the Potocki clan.
The history of Łańcut is much older than the castle erected in 1642. It goes back to the times of King Casimir III the Great, who founded here a town in accordance with the Magdeburg Rights in the 14th century. At the time Łańcut was owned by the Pilecki family, who had connections with the royal Jagiellonian Dynasty. The head of the family, Otton Pilecki, was a close friend of the king and his wife, Jadwiga, became the godmother to the future successor, Władysław II Jagiełło (1352-1434). Later the connections were strengthened with their daughter Elżbieta's marriage to the king. Władysław II Jagiełło is believed to have visited Łańcut twice. Between World War I and World War II, the local townspeople still pointed to a lime tree growing on a hill, a former site of the Pilecki's wooden fortified mansion, where the king was believed to have relaxed with his third wife Elżbieta. After the Pilecki clan has died out, Łańcut became the property of the Stadnicki family. The most famous of them was Stanisław, the governor of Sigulda. Stadnicki extended and modernised the castle in 1610 during the reign of Sigismund III.
In 1629, Łańcut became the property of Stanisław Lubomirski, governor of Ruthenia and Count of Wiśnicz, who in 1647 became the prince of the Holy Roman Empire. It was Lubomirski who erected, according to Maciej Trapola's design, the quadrilateral castle with corner donjons surrounded by fortifications. Other traces of Lubomirski's restructuring include parts of the castle fortification, presumably the work of Krzysztof Mieroszewski (1600-1679).
During the Swedish invasion of Poland, in 1656, the castle was visited by King John II Casimir (1609-1672). In 1657, it was unsuccessfully besieged by the Swedish ally, George II Rákóczi. In the late 17th century, after the 1688 fire, the castle was restored by Tylman van Gameren, a Dutch-born Polish architect and engineer who, at the age of 28, settled in Poland and worked for wealthy magnates. Tylman left behind a lifelong legacy of buildings that are regarded as gems of Polish Baroque architecture. In Łańcut he transformed the former castle into a palace, simultaneously adding bulbous cupolas to the side towers, which are the most characteristic aspect of the castle's architecture.
The baroque palazzo in fortezza in Łańcut underwent its first radical alterations in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Its owners at the time were Duke Stanisław Lubomirski (1722–1782) and his wife Izabela née Czartoryska. Initial transformations were conducted by the Lubomirskis together and after her husband's death in 1783, the Duchess continued the work by herself. She also began to expand the complex and, being a great admirer of baroque architecture, continued to transform the castle into a palace.
Following Izabela's death in 1816, Łańcut was inherited by her grandchildren and members of the Potocki family. For the next one hundred years, the castle became the centre of their hereditary family estate, legally established in 1830. The consecutive generations of the Potocki's introduced various levels of modernisation both in the castle itself and its immediate and more distant surrounding. The Duchess’ grandson and heir, conducted some repairs in the castle, but most importantly he erected a complex of horse-riding facilities consisting of stables and three carriage houses