Szymański Palace in Zawiercie

This brick villa with a tower and a half-timbered gable in the centre of Zawiercie was once the home of the man who ran the town's largest factory. The Szymański Palace was built for Stanisław Szymański, director of the Zawiercie Joint-Stock Company (TAZ), a major textile works, and was surrounded by a park with ornamental ponds and – unusually for the area – a cricket pitch. Today the industrialist's former residence houses the town library.

The TAZ director's home

Szymański was born in 1862 in Kalisz, studied in Germany and St Petersburg and came to Zawiercie in the late 19th century. In 1895 he began building the villa, which was completed in stages by about 1910 (other sources give 1897 as its date). It was designed by the Warsaw architect Hugo Kudera (Hugon Kuder in some sources), who also designed the church and the school for TAZ workers' children. In 1907 Szymański became general director of the factory, and after Zawiercie received town rights in 1915 he chaired the town council. He left for Warsaw in 1931.

The villa was built of brick on a stone plinth. A grand driveway with a central lawn led up to it, and the nearby Młynówka stream was turned into a series of ponds that were both decorative and practical. The grounds also included orangeries, a gardener's house and a cricket pitch. The imposing entrance gate disappeared after the Second World War, and the park was taken over by the state and turned into a public park.

The palace today

The building is part of the TAZ workers' housing estate and has been on the heritage register since 10 July 1991 (no. A/1428/91). It houses the Municipal and County Public Library, a small museum room, a branch of the community music school and, in the basement, a restaurant. From outside, look for the tower, the half-timbering in the gable and the decorative entrance portal.

Tripto tip

You can see the palace from outside at any time and go inside during library opening hours. The villa itself needs only 15–20 minutes, so combine it with a walk around the TAZ estate and a visit to the neo-Gothic Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, designed by the same architect. The ruins of Ogrodzieniec Castle are a dozen or so kilometres from Zawiercie.