Sandomierski Palace: An Administrative Headquarters in Radom
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Poland
- Primary era
- Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Modern
- Civilizations
- Kingdom of Poland, Russian
- Site type
- Civic
- Remains
- Palace
On this page8 sections
History
Commission headquarters, 1816–1837
Sandomierski Palace is a classical administrative building at 53 Stefana Żeromskiego Street in Radom, Poland. Built from 1825 to 1827, it was designed to house the authorities of the Kingdom of Poland, which was established in 1815 and then under Russian imperial rule. In 1816, Radom became the seat of the Sandomierz Voivodeship, a major administrative province established the previous year. Since the city lacked suitable offices for its officials, engineer Ebertowski’s urban expansion plan placed a new headquarters in Dzierzków, then beyond the city limits. Lublin Street was intended as an axis for further development.
Antonio Corazzi received the design commission in 1822, and Józef Zajączek, the kingdom’s viceroy, approved the project. Stefan Baliński supervised construction, with Warsaw contractor Grzegorz Bielski managing the work. The palace housed the voivodeship authorities until 1837, when the Sandomierz Governorate administration took over.
Changing administrations, 1837–1918
The Sandomierz Governorate, an administrative territory under Russian rule, used the building from 1837 to 1844. From 1844, it housed the Radom Governorate administration, which remained there into the 1910s. The palace continued as a seat of territorial administration until 1918. The Act of 5 November was announced from its balcony.
After Poland regained independence, Radom’s administrative status was reduced, and the former commission headquarters became the county administration’s seat. In 1919, Radom joined the Kielce Voivodeship and became the seat of a regional railway directorate. A regional museum opened in one palace room on 18 March 1923, then moved to Hempel Palace in 1925.
Occupation and postwar use
During the Second World War, German occupation authorities made Radom the seat of the Radom District administration within the General Government, the German occupation administration in Poland. They occupied the palace and planned a wider administrative center around present-day Kelles-Krauza Street. The associated new buildings followed National Socialist design, associated with the Nazi regime, but the larger urban plan was not completed.
After the war, the building housed the presidiums of the city and county National Councils, local representative and administrative bodies. From 1975 to 1998, part of the complex served as the seat of the Radom Voivodeship authorities. The complex has housed municipal administration and branches of Mazovian regional institutions since 1998. In 1999, it became the seat of the city administration and a voivodeship office. A commercial-law chamber of the district court also occupies space behind the historic Żeromski Street frontage. The palace is protected as a listed monument, with registration entries in 1956, 1972, and 1983.
Remains
Original classical building
The complex’s original composition has a three-storey main block and side wings of equal height, facing Żeromski, Kiliński, and Niedziałkowski streets. Its 60-metre-wide south front has 15 vertical window axes, meaning aligned lines of openings, and three projecting sections. The central section carries a four-column Tuscan portico, a porch with plain classical columns, topped by a triangular pediment, the shaped feature above a classical entrance. The outer projections contain niches framed by single columns and are capped by low attic walls.
Masonry on the ground floor emphasizes rough faces and joints. Projecting horizontal bands divide the storeys. Above the second floor, a broad classical band bears a triglyph frieze, a row of grooved blocks, and a cornice supported by ornamental brackets. The original plan had two ranges of rooms, with entrances in the outer projections. Wartime alterations changed it to a single-range plan and placed the main entrance in the central projection. A stamp issued on 14 September 1943 in a five-stamp series marking the third anniversary of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party in the General Government depicted the historic south façade.
Wartime northward expansion
The complex was enlarged northward during the German occupation. By 1942, its north side had a new main façade, and associated buildings were erected by 1945. The façade has 29 window axes and a five-storey central projection with 13 axes, making it about twice as wide as the south front. Two roof pedestals on the projection carried Reich eagles.
Courtyard and western entrance
A concert hall for the Radom Symphony Orchestra was built in the courtyard in 1964. The west side of the complex, on Kiliński Street, received a modern entrance façade in 1999.
