Kraków - Decjusz’s Villa

State of preservation:		The building, though heavily reconstructed, has remained as the whole
Admission:		The entry to the areas around the palace is free of charge. The admission to the interior is impossible in practice.
Parking:		There is a free parking lot by the palace
Searching difficulty:		Finding this site for the person out of the town demands searching
Access difficulty:		The access is not tiresome
Subjective rating:		The building of an average beauty

Driving directions:

Finding Cracow ought not to be a trouble to anyone. Through the center of the town runs the road no 7, which in the North leads to Warsaw, while in the South to Chyżne. Keeping down the road no 7 you need to reach the Cracovia hotel in the very middle of the town. It stands by the Błonie park, at the crossroads of Piłsudskiego and Focha Streets as well as Mickiewicza and Krasińskiego Avenues. In that spot you have to turn into Focha Street and drive all the way long down it (driving from the South you must do "a safety-pin circle" as the turn to the left is forbidden). Focha Street develops after 1km into Królowej Jadwigi St., along which you should drive straight on through the next 2-3 km. In a certain moment there is a turn left to the zoo (a signpost) and there begins 28 Lipca 1943r. St. You need to turn into it and drive straight ahead. On a slight height a street turns tightly to the right, and then sharply to the left. Precisely on the peak of the turn to the left, there is a gateway to Decjusz’s palace opposite.


Historical outline:

First references to the estate in Wola Chełmska originate in the XIVth cent., whereas in 1445 for the first time occured a piece of information that in this spot stood a defensive manor. It was later confirmed by Jan Długosz in his chronicles. In 1526 the manor became Justus Decjusz’s property, a king Zygmunt Stary’s secretary. A new owner converted the manor giving it a nature of palace, and also established a garden, which is now styled as Decjusz’s park. At the start of the XVIIth cent. the estate came into hands of Lubomirski family, who carried out a following conversion. In the next centuries no significant construction works were conducted in the palace and only the XIXth century brough about subsequent conversions and simultaneously gave the palace an ultimate shape. In the beginning of the XXth cent. a neglected building started to deteriorate. In the time of the World War I the army was garrisoned in there, and during the World War II, Hitler’s police. After the war the palace served to different state institutions until the 70s of the XXth cent. when it fell into a total dilapidation. Only a reconstruction from the 90s restored a former splendor of the building.

Gratefulness to curator of the Wawel castle for rendering materials on the subject of Decjusz’s palace available.


Pictures:




Nearest castles:

Pieskowa Skała

Ojców

Rudno

Kraków – Branice

Kraków

Dobczyce

Lanckorona