HYCÓW in: the history of residences in the former borderlands of the commonwealth, roman aftanazy
Above the Khomor, flowing into the Sluch, in the Zaslav land, in Volhynia, lies Hrycow. The Kremenets books bring documents attesting to the antiquity of this town. They speak of a transaction between Janusz Ostrogski, the Krakow castellan, and Aleksander Ostrogski, the Volhynian voivode. They were the sons of Konstanty Ostrogski, who left his children vast estates in Volhynia, Ostróg, Zaslav, Slavuta, and among others, Hrycow. The transaction was recorded in the year 1570. Further, the Kremenets acts mention that after the Ostrogskis, the Hrycow estates were inherited by the Zbaraskis, among them Janusz Zbaraski, the Bracław voivode, who owned Hrycow at the beginning of the seventeenth century. After the Zbaraskis, the Lubomirskis were here until 1752. At that time, Hrycow was acquired from Stanisław Lubomirski, the crown podstoli, by Michał Grocholski, the Bracław land judge and capituary during the interregnum after Augustus III. From then on, until recent times, Hrycow has been in the possession of the Grocholskis.
In 1782, a palace in the style of Louis XV was built in Hrycow. This was a period when French-style buildings were being erected in Ruthenia. At that time, French taste trends were reflected in the interior design.
The Hrycow house has an interesting front gable, richly ornamented with sculpture, ending in flowers. This sculpture forms a good whole with the calm front elevation. The interior had paneling and stuccoes well suited to the style. The lintels and overdoors were ornamented with a spiral line.
On the right side of the house stood a neo-Gothic chapel with a rose window and small turrets.
The entrance gate had stylish stone mythological figures. The pillars served as bases for statues and vases.
Very old archives, a gallery of paintings, family silverware, antiques were the adornment of the Hrycow house.
In the altar of the chapel, a statue of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary made of white marble, sculpted by Sosnowski.
In the Hrycow palace, Włodzimierz Grocholski, the editor and publisher of the “Kiev Journal”, the only Polish newspaper in Ruthenia at the time, lived for a long time.
On the high hill beyond the river Khomor, which flows around Hrycow, there was an ancient, abandoned cemetery, supposedly Arian. Is not the whole of Hrycow with its relics and memories now a cemetery?
Antoni Urbański “The Knell on the Ruins of Lithuania and Ruthenia” Published by the Author, Warsaw 1928
The town of Hrycow on the Khomor, a tributary of the Sluch, once belonged to the allodial estates of the Ostrogski princes. In 1605, these estates were already owned by Prince Janusz Zbaraski. From his heirs, they passed to the Lubomirski family. Stanisław Lubomirski, the crown podstoli, sold Hrycow along with its appurtenances to Michał from Grabów Grocholski of the Syrokomla coat of arms (born in 1704), the land judge of the Bracław voivodeship, married to Anna Radzimińska, in 1752. After Michał, his son Marcin (1727 – 1807), the Bracław voivode, married to Cecylia Myszka-Chołoniewska, inherited Hrycow, which he passed to the youngest of his five sons – Ludwik (1784 – 1869), married to Maria from the Baworowski family. The next heir of the Hrycow estate was Ludwik’s only son, Mieczysław Grocholski (1812 – 1899), married to Stefania Giżycka of the Gozdawa coat of arms. After Mieczysław’s death, the estates, already significantly diminished by various dowries, passed to Włodzimierz Grocholski (1857 – 1914), a member of the Russian Duma, the younger of his two sons. The elder son Stefan (1850 – 1911) settled in Kołodne, the estate of his wife Olga from the Świejkowski family. Since Włodzimierz Grocholski died unmarried, the last heir of Hrycow was his nephew, Stefan Grocholski (1890 – 1943), also unmarried. Thus, the Hrycow line of the Grocholski counts ended with him.
Michał Grocholski began constructing a new grand residence on the site where the Zbaraski castle once stood. Its design, unfortunately unsigned, has been preserved in the former collections of Stanisław August, now held in the Print Room of the University of Warsaw. According to this design, only partially realized, the main body of the palace was to be connected by covered galleries to two side pavilions. Neither the pavilions nor the galleries were built. The palace itself was indeed realized, but in a somewhat simplified form. The reason may have been the death of the founder, who did not manage to complete the palace. Ultimately, it was only in 1782 that his son Marcin finished it, though he omitted certain details.
According to the design, the two-story main body of the palace received a rectangular plan and a high, smooth hip roof. Its front elevation was accentuated on the axis by a slightly elevated, strongly outlined risalit, with corners defined by vertical strips of rustication. The lower part of the risalit was equipped with rectangular doors and windows, also placed in the corners. The upper story received exclusively five high porte-fenêtres closed in a semicircle. The risalit, crowned with a wide profiled cornice, was closed with a low attic wall. The center of the attic was crowned with a large, richly decorated bas-relief depicting two cartouches with the Syrokomla Grocholski and Korczak Chołoniewski coats of arms placed against a background of plant tendrils, and a nine-pronged count’s crown. At the ends of the wall, stone vases were still placed. The risalit was covered with a mansard roof, distinct from the body of the palace, also with a vase at the top.
The design, alongside a richer setting for the porte-fenêtres and the frieze under the crowning cornice, also envisioned the presence of a portico in front of the risalit composed of eight pairs of thin columns supporting a balcony surrounded by a balustrade, again with four stone vases. The balcony was to encompass three porte-fenêtres. Neither Orda’s drawing from around 1870 nor later photographic records include the portico. However, J. Karwicki mentions it in his description of the palace from the end of the 19th century, describing it as built “in the Rococo style, adorned with a magnificent, columned driveway.” From these words, it follows that the portico indeed existed but was dismantled for some reason probably already in the early 19th century.
The weakly protruding risalit from the elevation also occupied the central part of the garden side of the palace. It had both corners rusticated, three lower rectangular porte-fenêtres opening onto a low terrace, and three upper ones, closed in a semicircle, leading to a balcony with a wrought iron balustrade. The garden risalit was also crowned with an attic wall, decorated with vases. The side sections of both longer elevations, with corners covered with rustication as in the case of the risalits, received a relatively modest decor. Instead of the significantly richer ones predicted by the design, the windows and doors were framed with smooth surrounds. Only the windows of the lower story, housing most of the representative rooms, and thus higher than the upper, were crowned with horizontal cornices. Both stories were separated by a narrow band. All elevations were closed with a profiled cornice.
Accounts concerning the interiors, both their architecture and furnishings, are unfortunately very sparse and general. We only know that the spacious entrance hall, with double-flight, oak, carved stairs leading to the upper floor, was decorated with portraits of Polish kings, painted on plaster using the al fresco technique. On the ground floor, there were also several salons, a library room, and a dining room, covered with paneling. All the representative rooms were decorated with overdoors and stuccoes. The floors were laid in patterns from oak parquet. In several rooms, in addition to stoves, there were also fireplaces. The large ballroom on the upper floor was particularly richly decorated with stuccoes. A huge crystal chandelier hung from its ceiling. The antique furniture, mostly mahogany, was probably made on-site. Among the collections of historical and cultural value, the library held a prominent place, mainly on heraldic and historical topics, followed by the family archive, a gallery of Polish and foreign paintings, porcelain with a collection of figurines, crystals, and old silverware. During the First World War, the owners bricked up large quantities of old silverware in one of the palace’s cellars. It was accidentally found only several decades later.
A short distance from the palace, on the right side, Ludwik Grocholski erected a family chapel in the neo-Gothic style in the mid-19th century, designed by Konstanty Count Broel-Plater. It had a quadrangular plan and a height corresponding to that of the palace. At all corners of the chapel, there were turrets topped with double, pointed helmets. The tower with a bell and cross was placed on the axis as a crowning of the facade.
The interior was adorned, among others, with a statue in the main altar, made of white marble by Oskar Sosnowski, depicting the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Opposite the palace, on the opposite side of the very spacious, unwooded courtyard, stood the ashlar entrance gate, composed of two several-meter-high pillars and two lower walls, pierced with rectangular openings for gates. Both pillars, both from the outer side and from the courtyard, were decorated with pairs of columns. Both were also closed with wide cornices, on which figurative sculptures stood on pedestals. From the driveway side, the courtyard was surrounded by pickets set in brick and plastered quadrangular posts topped with stone balls. The gate was accessed by a bridge thrown over a ditch, a remnant of the old fortifications of the castle.
The park, covering several hectares and with a diverse stand of trees, mainly occupied the area lying on the sides and behind the palace, where the gradually sloping terrain reached the pond, formed by the overflow of the Khomor River. The Hrycow garden had a landscape character.
Roman Aftanazy “The History of Residences in the Former Borderlands of the Commonwealth – Volhynian Voivodeship”