Władysław Reymont Palace in Kołaczkowo

In Kołaczkowo in Greater Poland, on the road from Września to Pyzdry, stands a Neoclassical palace that Władysław Reymont bought in 1920. The writer spent the following years here from spring to autumn and still owned the estate when, on 13 November 1924, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for "The Peasants". Today the palace houses a memorial room to the laureate, and the park has a monument showing him with Jagna and Boryna.

History: from the Dąmbskis to a Nobel laureate

Kołaczkowo is first mentioned in 1310. The palace with its outbuilding and stables was built in the first half of the 19th century on the initiative of Michał Dąmbski; other sources say the Stablewski family started the work. After 1863 the estate passed into German hands, and at the beginning of the 20th century the Royal Prussian Settlement Commission broke it up. Reymont bought the remaining estate of about 213 ha, reshaped the park and wrote here, spending the winters in Warsaw.

Friends from literature and politics came to visit, including Kornel Makuszyński, Adam Grzymała-Siedlecki, Zenon Przesmycki, Roman Dmowski, Władysław Grabski, Maciej Rataj and Wincenty Witos. After the writer's death in 1925 his heirs sold Kołaczkowo to the Jurasz family, Poznań doctors. After the war the palace held flats for state-farm workers, then a writers' retreat run by Poznań authors; it was thoroughly renovated in 1968–1979.

What to see

• The palace – two storeys, with a nine-bay façade and a columned portico topped by a triangular pediment.
• The Władysław Reymont Memorial Room on the ground floor: a reconstructed dining room and study with furniture that belonged to Reymont, on loan from the Museum of Literature in Warsaw. There are also early editions of his works, letters and old photographs.
• The landscape park – the whole complex covers 4.4 ha – with avenues of horse chestnuts, limes and hornbeams, a silver maple dating from Reymont's time, a copper beech, a yew and tulip trees.
• The monument to the writer with the characters Jagna and Boryna from "The Peasants", erected for his 110th birthday.
• The outbuilding and the former stables with granary opposite the palace, and the historic gate on the road side.

Tripto tips

The palace also houses the municipal cultural centre (GOK); the address is pl. Reymonta 1. The memorial room's opening hours are not published on the municipal website, so call the GOK before you come (tel. +48 61 438 50 78). You can walk around the park whether or not the interiors are open; allow 30–45 minutes for the park and monument, about an hour including the memorial room. The Neoclassical Church of Saints Simon and Jude Thaddeus is just a few steps from the park.