Palaces

Starawieś Palace

The palace in Starawieś, about 9 kilometres north-west of Węgrów, lies within the Nadbużański Landscape Park, by the Liwiec river, which flows wide here. The first residence was probably erected in the late 16th century, and over the following centuries the estate passed from hand to hand: it was held by the Radziwiłł, Krasiński, Świdziński, Łubieński, Jezierski, Golcyn and Gerlicz families, before returning to the Radziwiłłs in 1905.

Prince Golitsyn's English castle

The greatest transformation came in the mid-19th century at the initiative of Prince Sergiusz Golitsyn. The building took on the look of a fashionable English castle, and its interior decorations referenced the Elizabethan age of England. The 20th century was unkind to the palace: during the war small Wehrmacht units were stationed here, in 1944 Soviet troops devastated the interiors, and after the war various institutions that used the building led it into further decay.

A revival under the central bank

The palace's fate changed at the end of the 20th century when it was taken over by the National Bank of Poland. At the turn of the millennium the building was fully restored and turned into a training and leisure centre with rooms for rent. Anyone may enter the palace grounds for a walk: the park merges into a forest, natural monuments grow there, avenues stretch between ponds crossed by footbridges, and a small aviary stands by the palace. It is worth combining the visit with nearby Węgrów (the basilica, market square and Gdańsk House) and the castle in Liw, 9.5 km away. Starawieś lies on the former trade route running from Łuków through Węgrów to Gdańsk.