Manor in Parcice: A Ruined Classical Estate in Poland
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.2
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Poland
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- Eras represented
- Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Manor House
On this page7 sections
History
The Manor in Parcice is a ruined country residence in Poland, built at the end of the eighteenth century in the Classical style, an architectural tradition based on ancient Greek and Roman forms. Local tradition associates the site with an earlier noble residence belonging to Elzbieta Czartoryska, a member of the Polish noble Czartoryski family. A grave tablet dated 1623 and associated with her was found after the Second World War and later transferred to the cemetery in Czastary.
The Trepka and Magnuski estates
Count Leopold Trepka was responsible for the later manor and also owned estates at Mlynisko, Lyskornia, and Mokrsko. He strongly supported Calvinism, a Protestant tradition derived from the teachings of John Calvin. Near the end of his life, Trepka converted to Catholicism and financed a church in Czastary, which was consecrated in 1847.
The estate later passed to Ferdynand Magnuski of the Sieradz area. His son Boleslaw inherited Parcice and became associated with an extravagant way of life. Before his father’s death, he brought engineers from France to arrange the park’s flowerbeds and avenues according to French models. He also maintained a breeding program for English half-blood horses. At a horse exhibition in Kalisz in 1900, a mare named Kokietka received a silver medal.
The Nowicki family and the Second World War
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the manor was briefly purchased by three Jewish buyers from Wielun. Witold Nowicki acquired the estate in 1925, when the building was still in good technical condition. He added a western extension for his ill wife, Aniela, after her doctor recommended a change of climate. Nowicki was regarded as an effective estate manager, bred pheasants for hunts in the park, and began building a school in Parcice before the Second World War. The park also hosted May outings for village inhabitants.
Nowicki assembled a substantial library at the manor, but it was destroyed during the German occupation. In 1940, German authorities seized the estate and placed it under the administration of Paul Tingenthal, who lived there with his daughter Dorota. Tingenthal expanded the property from 29 hectares to more than 100 hectares by expropriating local farmers. He was killed during fighting on the Warta in January 1945, while his daughter was shot while trying to flee.
Postwar decline and ownership changes
The Nowicki family returned after the war, and the manor housed a primary school from 1945 to 1947. After Witold Nowicki died in 1955, the estate passed to his daughter Zofia. She tried to manage it independently for several years but could not continue successfully. The writer Zbigniew Nienacki, known for historical and adventure fiction, later rented the manor and worked there.
ZSM Polmo, a Polish industrial enterprise, purchased the estate in 1977. By then the manor was already in poor technical condition. Although the company proposed projects including a recreation center, none was completed, and no effective measures prevented further deterioration. Rooms were rented to families from Parcice, while furnishings and other property were progressively stolen.
In 1989, Polmo transferred the estate without payment to the State Treasury, after which the Municipality of Czastary became its full owner. Krystyna Gancarczyk-Hjorth then bought the property on the condition that she rebuild the manor. Building work in 1991 removed the roof and included excavations inside the structure that seriously weakened its foundations. The construction crew disappeared in 1992, as did Gancarczyk-Hjorth, who later lived in Sweden and did not return to Parcice despite repeated court summonses.
Józef Sut bought the estate at auction in 2008. The manor’s pediment, the triangular upper part of its facade, collapsed in 2009, after which the building deteriorated almost completely into ruin. The manor and park are entered in the heritage register under number 325, with the entry dated 30 December 1967.
Remains
The complex consists of a ruined Classical manor, an associated park, and a brick granary. The main building was organized around a central axis, with a four-column portico, a roofed entrance structure supported by columns, and an oval salon. The western extension added during Witold Nowicki’s ownership formed part of the later plan. The removal of the roof in 1991 and the internal excavations severely damaged the foundations, while the collapse of the pediment in 2009 left the manor almost entirely ruined and severely neglected.
Manor interiors and associated buildings
The interior formerly contained stylistic wooden door fittings, floors, fireplaces, and stucco decoration. Ornamental tiled stoves were dismantled and sold in sections. Some parts were recovered by the Museum in Wielun, and two stoves are now held by the Museum of Manor Interiors in Ozarow, although their appearance differs somewhat from the originals. A brick granary stood beside the manor.
Historic park
The park was arranged with flowerbeds and avenues following French models. It contains two California sycamores, identified as Platanus racemosa, and a very old oak with a circumference of 6.25 metres. The 1623 grave tablet associated with the earlier residence was removed from the site after its postwar discovery and transferred to the cemetery in Czastary.
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