Sarny Summer Palace: A Baroque Family Residence in Poland
Site at a Glance
- Country
- Poland
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Habsburg, Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Bohemia
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Elite Residence
History
The Sarny summer palace is a Baroque residence in Sarny, Poland. Built by Silesian count Franz Anton von Götzen, it was completed in 1730. It formed part of the Götzen family’s residence together with Sarny Castle, which stood on higher ground.
Remains
The two-storey palace stands on the opposite bank of the Włodzica River from Sarny Castle. Its mansard roof, a roof with two slopes on each side, has dormer windows. The palace belongs to an extensive complex that also includes the castle, an eighteenth- to nineteenth-century park, a Baroque granary, a chapel dedicated to Saint John of Nepomuk, and farm buildings dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Saint John was a fourteenth-century Bohemian priest and martyr venerated in the Catholic tradition. A historic avenue through the park lies on the palace’s axis.
Inside, the main salon occupies the first storey above ground. Its ceiling painting depicts a Baroque garden and probably refers to a garden in front of the palace. Above the entrance, a heraldic cartouche, a framed display of coats of arms, showed the arms of Franz Anton von Götzen and his wife, Maria Anna, also known as Marianne, von Stillfried. She was the daughter of Baron Raymund Erdmann Anton Stillfried von Rattonitz (1672–1720), who came from Nowa Ruda. The damaged cartouche was dismantled in 1996 and placed inside the palace.
