Nawojowa Palace

In January 1937, Princess Juliana of the Netherlands – the future queen – came to Nawojowa near Nowy Sącz with her new husband Bernhard shortly after their wedding, and Count Adam Stadnicki organised a hunt for them in the forests near Rytro. The palace where they stayed has more than four centuries of history behind it, including a fire on one owner's wedding day and almost 70 years in state hands. Since 2013 it has once again belonged to the Stadnicki descendants, who are restoring it.

From the Nawojowski manor to the Stadnicki residence

The village was founded as a knight's settlement by Nawoj, castellan of Kraków; in Jan Długosz's Liber beneficiorum of 1470–1480 the owner is listed as Tomasz Nawojowski. Around 1580–1590 Piotr Nawojowski built a brick manor house here – its walls still form the oldest part of the palace. The estate later passed to the Branicki and Lubomirski families, and in 1799 it was bought by Count Franciszek Stadnicki of the Szreniawa coat of arms. His descendants expanded the manor into a family seat.

According to the owners, in 1852, on the wedding day of Count Edward Stadnicki, the building was destroyed by fire, after which the palace was rebuilt and remodelled. Edward also founded an ironworks in Nawojowa whose products won a medal at the Lwów exhibition in 1877. His grandson Adam Stadnicki, a forester trained in Munich, ran a model forestry operation from 1904, founded a sawmill and a forest reserve at Łabowiec, and laid the groundwork for what later became the Poprad Landscape Park.

War, communism and restitution

During the German occupation troops were quartered in the palace, and the celebrated actor Juliusz Osterwa also lived here with his wife and daughter. In 1945 the state took over the estate. From 1982 it housed a livestock-farming college, and more recently the regional agricultural advisory centre and an agricultural agency; without repairs, the building fell into decay. In 2013, by decision of the agriculture minister, the palace and park were returned to Adam Stadnicki's heirs. The owners plan to turn it into a centre for creative work hosting conferences, artists' retreats and cultural events.

What to look for

The palace consists of two wings at right angles, linked by a six-storey tower in Romantic neo-Gothic style. The older wing, containing the Nawojowski manor, has buttresses and corner turrets; the newer western wing is modernist with neo-Gothic touches. The front gable bears the Stadnicki coat of arms, Szreniawa, in a decorative crowned frame. Surviving interior features include a Renaissance fireplace of white marble, painted ceilings with Romantic landscapes and Rococo stoves in the ballroom.

The palace is surrounded by a park laid out in 1840 on Edward Stadnicki's initiative. It contains a plane tree, a tulip tree and red oaks planted in the 1840s, as well as swamp cypresses and Katsura trees from the early 20th century.

Tripto tip

This is a private property under restoration, not a museum – before you go, check palacwnawojowej.pl to see whether the park or interiors are open to visitors. The palace lies on the road from Nowy Sącz to Krynica, so it makes an easy short stop on the way into the Beskid Sądecki mountains.