The Historical Museum in Dukla is based in an 18th-century magnate's residence. In 1764-65 Jerzy August Wandalin Mniszech, court marshal of the crown, starosta generalny of Greater Poland and later castellan of Krakow, and his wife Maria Amalia of the Brühls rebuilt the bastion building that functioned here earlier into a magnificent palace with two outbuildings and a garden. The Mniszechs' residence, built in the "entre cour et garden" style, was one of the most beautiful in Poland at the time. The palace housed a sizable picture gallery and a library. An orchestra, a court guard and a Swiss guard remained at the service of the Dukla court of the Mniszechs. A theater functioned in a building that does not exist today. The entire palace complex was complemented by a magnificent park with a symmetrical arrangement of alleys, ponds and rows of trees and flowers. In the 19th century the palace complex was owned by the Męcinski family. Severely damaged in the 1940s, it was rebuilt after the war. The palace and outbuildings, where the Historical Museum is located today, have a monumental yet austere appearance. The park has beautiful specimens of oaks, lindens, ginkgoes, elm trees, maples and robinias, most of which remember the glory days of the 18th-century magnate's residence.
admin - 07.02.2008
