Strzyżawka

They saw the old hetman Kalinowski, as he defeated the Cossacks here. They heard the song of the Bar Confederates, who with song and the glory of Mary competed here with the superior force of the Russians. They heard the battle trumpets and the clash of Kościuszko’s and Prince Józef’s troops.

That knight without blemish formed his regiments of Cossacks here, stood under his banner, and here his loyal Cossacks shouted, “Bat’ku Josype, lead us to the cannons.”

Then came times of peace for Strzyżawka, times of work on the land and waiting for a better tomorrow.

At that time, Tadeusz Count Grocholski lasted the longest here.

He was a noble man, a diligent host, and a painter of great measure.

He studied painting in Italy and with Bonnat in Paris. He left landscapes and portraits. He also painted frescoes with Countess Działyńska in Gołuchów of the Czartoryski family. Countess Zofia Grocholska, wife of Count Tadeusz, and Count Remigiusz, Henryk, and Ksawery are the current owners of Strzyżawka.

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Strzyżawka is a place beautifully situated on a hill, right at the mouth of the river of the same name as the town. According to documents from the 15th century, which were kept in the collections of the local manor before the First World War, the description of the town “Striżawka” mentioned, among other things, that the then owner of the surrounding lands was a certain Dmytro Striżawśkyj.

According to the same source, there were later six or even seven Uniate churches, and a large Basilian monastery stood a verst from the town, on a high granite rock jutting into the Boh River.

After Dmytro Striżawśkyj, the successive heirs of Strzyżawka were the Lubomirski family, and then the Potocki family. From Antoni Potocki, this estate was acquired by Michał from Grabów Grocholski h. Syrokomla (born in 1705), son of Ludwik, cupbearer of Dobrzyń, and Justyna from the Leniewicz family h. Prawdzic, commander of the Ukrainian party, land judge of Bracław, member of parliament, founder of the church and monastery of the Dominicans in Vinnytsia (1758) and the chapel in Tereszki. He came from a family that moved from Sandomierz to Volhynia at the beginning of the 16th century, and in the second half of the 18th century also to Podolia.

Michał Grocholski already owned Hryców and Tereszki in Volhynia, and Strzyżawka in Podolia. From his wife, Anna from the Radzimiński family h. Lubicz, daughter of Michał, stolnik of Czernihów, and Małgorzata Kamieńska h. Ślepowron, he received Pietniczany and Woronowica in the Bracław district. They fell to her after the childless death of her only brother, Marcin Radzimiński. In this way, the fortune of the Grocholski family was further, very significantly increased. Although both the Pietniczany and Woronowicki estates turned out to be excessively indebted, after long efforts they were cleared of pledges and claims.

Michał from Grabów Grocholski divided his extensive Volhynian and Podolian estates between his two sons in such a way that Strzyżawka and Pietniczany in Podolia, and Hubcza in Volhynia were received by Marcin, voivode of Bracław, Knight of the Order of St. Stanislaus, and the rest by Franciszek, Crown Swordbearer.

Voivode Marcin Grocholski (1727-1807), married to Cecylia from the Chołoniewski family h. Korczak, daughter of Adam and Salomea from the Kątski family h. Brochwicz, in addition to the estates received from his father, also had Hryców, Sabarów, Soroczyn, Stepanówka, Woronowica, Sudyłków, Kołomyjówka, Michałówka, and Stadnica. He divided these extensive estates among his five sons, of whom Jan Duklan received Sudyłków, Michał, starosta of Zwinogrod – Pietniczany, Ludwik – Hryców, Adam died a heroic death at the side of Kościuszko at Maciejowice, and Strzyżawka fell to Mikołaj Grocholski, marshal of the nobility, and later Podolian governor.

Mikołaj Grocholski (1782 – 1864), married to Emilia from the Chołoniewski family, left the most lasting mark in the history of Strzyżawka. He founded a Catholic church and a palace there. In addition, he also erected a convent for the Visitation Sisters in Kamianets-Podilskyi.

The only daughter of Mikołaj and Emilia Grocholscy – Maria, after marrying Wojciech Dzierżykraj – Morawski h. Nałęcz, brought him, among other things, Strzyżawka as a dowry. When Maria from the Grocholscy Morawska died young, and the widower took holy orders, Strzyżawka was inherited by the youngest of their three sons – Józef Dzierżykraj – Morawski.

After temporarily leaving the hands of the Grocholski family, both the residence and the Strzyżawiecki estate fell into great neglect. The owners lived elsewhere. Józef Morawski even decided to sell this property. According to the laws then in force in the so-called “taken provinces,” the new buyer could only be Russian. The matter gained publicity, and there were lively protests from the Polish opinion. It was then that Morawski’s cousin, Tadeusz Grocholski, who was then in Paris on his beloved painting studies, where he was studying under the guidance of the famous portraitist Leon Bonnat, abandoned his studies and returned to the country to save the family estate threatened with passing into foreign hands. Since the normal purchase by a Pole was impossible under the conditions of the time, it was agreed to sign a sixteen-year lease contract between both negotiating parties, which in essence was equivalent to a sale and purchase.

Tadeusz Przemysław Michał Count Grocholski (born 15 May 1839 in Pietniczany – died 29 July 1913 in Strzyżawka), son of Henryk and Franciszka Ksawera from the Brzozowski family h. Belina, married to Zofia Countess Zamoyska (1865 – 1957), daughter of Stanisław and Róża from the Potocki family, energetically set about lifting the estate from ruin.

Edward Chłopicki, who visited Podolia in 1875, tells of its size. Although he admired the wonderful location of the palace, standing on the top of a rock covered with giant trees and ruling over the entire area with a lofty colonnade of the porch, his admiration diminished as he got closer to the site. Everywhere he saw traces of complete neglect, which was eloquently evidenced even by the “notched” entrance gate.

Despite the deplorable state of Strzyżawka, both the farm and the residence, Tadeusz Grocholski had to wait a few more years to start rebuilding. Just at the moment of his taking over the estate, that is, in 1877, the Tsarist government rented the entire building as a hospital for wounded enemy prisoners arriving from the battlefields of the Russo-Turkish war. Therefore, the restoration of this beautiful building, full at the time of rubble, dust, and vermin, could only begin in the 1880s. While rebuilding Strzyżawka, Tadeusz Grocholski had to fight simultaneously for 30 years with both Józef Morawski, who, having squandered another estate, demanded additional payment after some time, and with the official Russian authorities trying to evict him from Strzyżawka. This fight was won by him only thanks to the intervention of a friend from his youth, Minister of the Court Baron Frederichs with the Tsar. While working on rebuilding the farm and the house, Tadeusz Grocholski also devoted a lot of time to social work, among other things, as vice-president of the Podolian Agricultural Society, and together with his brother Stanisław, organized a peasant bank, etc. He also painted a lot. His favorite subjects were genre scenes, religious paintings, and portraits. He also copied masterpieces of European painting.

The Strzyżawiecki palace, built by Mikołaj Grocholski in the years 1806 – 1811 according to a project by an unknown architect, unfortunately, stood – as already mentioned – on a high stone rock, right above the Boh River, amid an extensive landscape park. From the road, lined on both sides with huge Vistula poplars, leading from Vinnytsia to Kalinówka and further to Koziatyn and Berdychiv, one turned left to the manor, across a high and long bridge over the Boh.

Further, the road led up a fairly high hill, on which on the right side stood a Catholic church, and on the left the manor buildings, along with a garden surrounded by a high wall. Then, making two right-angle turns, along an avenue lined with old linden trees, one entered the pre-palace courtyard. On the right side of the avenue, one passed a warehouse and granary, further an orangery and cowhouse with a vegetable and fruit garden stretching behind them, while on the left side, there was a woodshed, stable, carriage house, outbuilding, and the so-called “old kitchen.”

The palace, standing opposite the end of the linden avenue, on the opposite side of the large, rectangular courtyard, had the plan of a short horseshoe. From the west side, that is, from the driveway, it was a one-story building, with a five-axis central part raised by a low floor, from the east side two-story, also with a small floor. In the fifteen-axis facade of the palace, a six-column portico in the grand order, placed at the two-story part, dominated. All the columns, set on a low terrace, were equipped with Ionic capitals. The extreme ones, however, had a square cross-section, while the others were round. The columns supported an entablature, surrounded from below by a wide profiled cornice, and in the middle, only from the front, a frieze composed of rosettes. The entire portico was encircled by a crowning cornice with corbels. In the rectangular, angled middle wall of the attic, stucco decorations depicting cornucopias, plant tendrils, and rosettes were placed, and against their background, an oval shield with the Syrokomla coat of arms of the palace’s founder and the Korczak of his wife. Above them, a nine-pole count’s crown was later added. The main entrance doors, enclosed in narrow frames, and the four ten-pane windows, framed by the portico, had triangular pediments supported on consoles, while the windows of the small floor only had frames with a slight emphasis on the sills. The portico section’s stories were separated by a smooth band. Above it, a row of short corbels protruded, on which a narrow balcony was placed. The portico’s ceiling was divided into five fields and decorated with large rosettes. The plastic decoration of the two-axis side wings, as well as the three-axis parts of the elevation between them and the portico, differed little from the decoration of the two-story part. Only the windows, identical in shape and size, had not triangular, but horizontal pediments, also supported on consoles, and the smoothly plastered walls were topped with a cornice with corbels.

The eastern elevation of the palace, facing the Boh River, was much more impressive. Although it had no side wings, it was accentuated on five central axes by a Corinthian pilastered risalit with a three-story portico.

The Corinthian columns in the grand order rested on rusticated arcades located at the ground floor.

The terrace above the arcades was surrounded by a wrought iron balustrade. The decoration of the risalit section with pilastered corners was similar to the decoration of the portico on the driveway side. Only the windows of the middle story were replaced here with porte-fenêtres opening onto a spacious terrace under the colonnade, from where particularly beautiful views of the river and the area beyond it could be admired. The garden portico was crowned by a triangular pediment surrounded by corbels. Its tympanum was also covered with stucco decorations with the main motif of an oval coat of arms. The ground floor of the side sections, with smaller windows divided into eight panes, had rusticated plaster, while the upper story had smooth plaster. The same was true of the three-axis side elevations, southern and northern. The stories were horizontally divided by paired smooth bands and a narrow cornice running under the sills of the high ground floor windows. All elevations were crowned by a cornice with corbels. The central part of the palace was covered by a smooth, shingled gable roof, while the side sections had a flattened hip roof hidden behind a tral balustrade surrounding the entire house.

The main residential and representative floor still had a two-bay layout after the reconstruction, but rather complicated, without symmetry, with numerous corridors, vestibules, bathrooms, etc. The decoration of individual rooms was also varied, from modest to exquisite. All of them had smooth parquet floors, most often laid with several types of wood in geometric patterns. The high, double-leaf paneled doors were covered with white lacquer or dark polish. The framed upper and lower panels were decorated with carved oval wreaths. In many rooms, the ceilings were supported by coves or corbels. Some stoves had an original, rarely seen shape.

The interior of the palace was entered through a large vestibule illuminated by two windows. Here, opposite the entrance, there were glazed doors, and behind them a spiral staircase leading to the ground floor or the upper floor. Above the doors hung hunting trophies in the form of a boar’s head, old muskets, spears, hunting horns, and others. Nearby was a clock regulating the life of the entire house. Above the two low stoves hung still life paintings. One depicted roses, the other fruits. The left wall was adorned with portraits of Michał Grocholski and his wife Anna from the Radzimiński family, painted by an unidentified artist. The furniture in the vestibule included two chests, one of which, appropriately closed during the day, served as a bed for the duty Cossack at night. On the second chest, standing in the middle, lay a wooden box with checkers for the entertainment of the palace Cossacks. The remaining furniture, that is, benches and heavy oak chairs, came from the farm school in Podzamcze, the Zamoyski estate.

From the vestibule to the right, one entered the so-called “first room,” which had one window still within the portico frame, and the other in the ground floor section. This room, with a ceiling on a cove and a floor laid in small squares, was maintained in a light tone and served as a library. Around the walls stood not very high, glazed bookcases, and above them and on all free spaces hung family portraits and miniatures.

The center of the room was occupied by a table with rounded corners, covered with green cloth, and chairs with bent armrests. An Empire-style chandelier made of bronze hung from the ceiling. Marble busts stood on the bookcases.

Directly adjacent to the library was also a two-window room of the same shape and dimensions for the master of the house. A narrow corridor resulting from the reconstruction running across the palace, already in its part extended by the wing, separated the central part of the house from four rooms arranged along its southern wall.

The former two rooms situated on the left side of the vestibule, counterparts to the library and master’s room, were converted into three smaller guest rooms. The entire left wing of the house was also divided.

The representative suite, with an enfilade layout of doors, was located in the eastern bay, which was affected by changes to a much lesser extent.

The entire center was occupied by a large ballroom, extended by a risalit, known as the “white” room because of its walls covered with white polished stucco.

It was essentially rectangular, but the cleverly designed ceiling made it appear oval. The central, three-axis part of the room had a height of two stories and a flat ceiling. Above the three porte-fenêtres leading to the terrace were three square windows. Both side parts had semicircular vaults without upper windows. The central flat ceiling was decorated with a large rosette, and four much smaller ones. All were made of white stucco. The semicircular vaults were covered with stucco of a plant grotesque character, also with rosettes, enclosed in wide, smooth trapezoidal frames. The cornice and coves of the vaults, composed of a frieze also with plant grotesque themes, were enclosed from below by a profiled cornice, and from above by a cornice with corbels. The cornice rested on four Corinthian half-columns. A large rectangular field above the cornice with corbels, opposite the upper windows, was filled with a stucco composition, apparently with scenes from ancient life. Both inner corners of the room were divided by two panels, framed at the sides by pilasters, connected at the top by semicircular profiled cornices. The floor had a geometric pattern.

The “white” room was probably not finished by the palace’s founder. It had no fireplace, appropriate chandeliers for which rosettes were prepared on the central ceiling, nor wall sconces. This lack was supplemented by a huge chandelier for 365 candles, cleverly made from a series of wooden rings of various sizes, lacquered white, covered with golden metal leaves. This chandelier was made by a local house carpenter according to the idea of Stanisław Grocholski as a wedding gift for his brother Tadeusz with Zofia Countess Zamoyska. This room never had furnishings appropriate for it. Huge late Biedermeier mahogany sofas stood in the corners, and in front of them tables and chairs in the same style. Recently, the “white” room served as the center of family life. Breakfasts, lunches, and dinners were eaten here, and lessons were done with the youth. There was also an old piano here.

On the north side of the ballroom was also a rectangular, but much smaller, three-window “blue” room. Dark-toned, richly inlaid doors led to it.

It owed its name to the walls covered in blue stucco. The ceiling of this room was covered with white stucco. The floor also had a geometric pattern, but different from that in the “white” room.

In two corners opposite the windows were vaulted niches, and in them square stoves, composed of two stories: a lower one with a larger cross-section and an upper one with a smaller one. Both were crowned by large vases with handles. The movable furnishings of the “blue” room consisted of a table, sofa, and chairs made of mahogany.

In the middle stood a huge, old-fashioned billiard table. This room was rarely used. The northeast corner room served as a residential room, as did the other remaining ones, also located along the north wall.

Equally beautiful doors, as to the “blue” room, led from the “white” room southward to the adjacent salon, which was not given any name. Its ceiling rested not on a cove, but on a cornice with corbels, enclosed at the top and bottom by narrow bands of stucco “in bull’s eyes.” There were two rectangular stoves, recessed into the walls, topped with a profiled cornice, covered with dark painting with figural motifs, as well as a classicist white marble fireplace, decorated with bas-reliefs and bronzes. The floor consisted of large, light squares enclosed in narrow, dark frames.

From the ceiling adorned with a small rosette hung a bronze-crystal chandelier. The furnishings consisted mainly of soft upholstered furniture from the late 19th century and several mahogany chests and cabinets. Among them, a console between the windows, an authentic Boulle, and a small table in the Louis XV style, richly inlaid and decorated with bronzes, stood out.

The salon also gathered many works of art. Among them, one of the leading places was occupied by a portrait of Mikołaj Grocholski, founder of the palace and church, painted à la Byron by Józef Oleszkiewicz. A large Italian embroidery from the 16th century, made on silk canvas, occupied a significant part of another wall. Its design depicted a black eagle with outstretched wings, holding a crown in its claws. Below, among stylized plant motifs, a shell among fruits was visible. This embroidery was given to Tadeusz Grocholski by his mother Cecylia Chołoniewska, superior of the Visitation Sisters in Kamianets-Podilskyi. Above the doors leading to the library room hung a painting by Rosa Bonheur, The Plow.

Next to it, on a column, stood a bronze of Michael the Archangel casting down the dragon, and on the console placed between the windows, a bust of Julia from the Grocholski family Poniatowska, made of white marble, unfortunately, the author’s chisel is unknown. Above the fireplace hung a mirror in gilded frames. The fireplace cornice was adorned with an 18th-century clock in a gilded bronze case and candelabra made of similar material.

Next to the salon was a one-window room called the bath room. A large marble bathtub stood there. This room served as a transitional room from the salon to the southeast corner room, with walls covered in uniform celadon stucco, serving as the lady of the house’s bedroom. Four columns, stuccoed in the same color but slightly veined, supported on black square bases, separated one-third of the rear part of the room from the front, forming an alcove.

The ceiling, decorated with stucco, rested on a cove composed of a block cornice enclosed in “in bull’s eyes” strips. Several dozen centimeters below, the room was encircled by a wide profiled cornice, also with side strips “in bull’s eyes”.

On one of the side walls was a white marble fireplace. The parquet floor had some pattern. During the reconstruction of the bedroom, its architecture was partially disrupted by cutting off the rear part for a narrow corridor, which began at the front living room of the master of the house.

Here too, the hosts gathered many valuable items. These included primarily a large Boulle bed placed in the alcove, given by Princess Maria from the Grocholski family Czartoryska to her brother Stanisław. Above it, framed in gold, hung a tapestry depicting the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, made by the Visitation Sisters in Kamianets-Podilskyi. In addition, the room was decorated with several other paintings. The furniture included two ebony wardrobes with bronze decorations, a large mahogany desk, small round tables, and Empire mahogany chairs upholstered with floral damask. On the fireplace was placed a bronze head, believed to be a likeness of the Orlątko, and bronze candelabra depicting kneeling angels holding vases in their hands. This was meant to give the impression as if they were pouring oil into lamps.

On the low floor, from the front portico side, there was a rectangular room in the middle with three windows and doors to the balcony, and on the sides two one-window rooms serving as residential. All of them, with modest decor, were furnished comfortably and modernly.

The Strzyżawiecki palace also housed many works of art, gathered mainly in the representative rooms, which were sometimes moved. Particularly interesting was the gallery of paintings with various themes, most often portraits. In addition to those already mentioned, they included works: Portrait of a Man in a Ruff with Lace attributed to Van Loo, Saint Cecilia Playing the Organ Surrounded by Angels by Rubens, Madonna with Child Jesus in the Arms by Carlo Maratta, Spanish Lady in a Lace Collar by Sutterman, and among the portraits: King Stanisław August (by Marcello Bacciarelli), Katarzyna from the Rzyszczewski family Rafałowa Chołoniewska (by Józef Grassi), Marcin Grocholski, voivode of Bracław, and Cecylia from the Chołoniewski family Grocholska (by Jan Chrzciciel Lampi Jr.), Franciszek from Grabów Grocholski, swordbearer, and Helena Justyna from the Lesznicki family Franciszkowa Grocholska (by Józef Pitschmann), Jan from Dukla Grocholski, oboźny with the rank of general, and Emilia from the Chołoniewski family Mikołajowa Grocholska (by Reichel), Franciszka Ksawera from the Brzozowski family Henrykowa Grocholska (from a photograph), Tadeusz Grocholski from 1889 and the same Tadeusz from a photograph, and Zofia from the Zamoyski family Tadeuszowa Grocholska by Kazimierz Pochwalski, and a portrait of Prince Adam Czartoryski and a copy from Titian of the composition L’amour sacre et l’amour profane by Leon Kapliński, Henryk Grocholski (from a photograph), Róża from the Potocki family Stanisławowa Zamoyska and Stanisław Zamoyski (copy from the original by Andrzej Mniszech by Jan Zasiedatel), as well as a self-portrait of Tadeusz Grocholski.

Among the portraits of unspecified authors were likenesses: of Pope Pius IX, Karol Belina Brzozowski (father of Ksawera Grocholska), Szczęsny Potocki, Remigian Grocholski (participant in the relief of Vienna), starosta Michał Grocholski (son of voivode Marcin), Felicja Marianna from the Śliźniów family Grocholska, Ludwik Grocholski (also son of the voivode of Bracław), Adam Myszka-Chołoniewski (castellan of Busk), Salomea from the Kątski family Adamowa Chołoniewska (considered “beautiful”), Ksawery Chołoniewski, Ignacy Chołoniewski, Adam Józef Chołoniewski, and Father Stanisław Chołoniewski (brother of Emilia Mikołajowa Grocholska). A separate group consisted of copies of great masters or portraits painted by the master of the house, Tadeusz Grocholski: a copy from Titian of the Sorrowful Mother of God, also after Titian Saint John the Baptist with the Lamb, and among the likenesses of his brother Tadeusz Stanisław Grocholski, sister Helena from the Grocholski family Brzozowska, wife Zofia from the Zamoyski family Tadeuszowa Grocholska, children of Tadeusz, Remigiusz, Michał, Ksawery, and Zofia, and studies of “a village girl from Pietniczany,” “a girl,” and “a girl standing by the river and drawing water.”

In the group of miniatures, two were signed by Jan Nepomucen Ender.

They depicted Henryk Grocholski and his wife Ksawera from the Brzozowski family, others: Ksawery Myszka – Chołoniewski, Ignacy Myszka – Chołoniewski, the Visitation Sister Maria Cecylia Myszka – Chołoniewska, Felicja Marianna from the Śliźniów family Michałowa Grocholska, Otylia from the Poniatowski family Adolfowa Grocholska, Kamilla from the Czetwertyński family Chołoniewska, wife of Józef Adam, Natalia (?) from the Czetwertyński family Naryshkin, Maria from the Grocholski family Witoldowa Czartoryska at a young age, Stanisław Grocholski at a similar age, Tadeusz Grocholski (as a child), and a Chołoniewski with an unknown name (in uniform).

Besides, in the collections were paintings: Gray Horse in a Meadow by Juliusz Kossak, Wolf Hunt by Józef Brandt, fifteen “Italian landscapes,” a large collection of engravings, and many albums with Tadeusz Grocholski’s own drawings. Alongside the previously mentioned, there were also two other tapestries: Madonna with Child Jesus and Israelites Weeping by the Walls of Babylon, as well as fifteen Polish belts by Jan Madżarski and Paschalis Jakubowicz.

The palace library recently numbered over a thousand volumes. These were works mostly in French, although there were also rare Krakow editions from the 16th century, and even prints pressed in Podolia. Many of these books had valuable bindings of Cordovan leather with gold-embossed spine titles and pressed ornaments. From the earlier collection, the religious-scientific library, started by Mikołaj Grocholski (1781 – 1864), was donated by his grandson, Father Marian Morawski, to the Jesuits in Krakow. The part that survived in Strzyżawka until the First World War was a gift from Princess Maria Czartoryska after her entry into the Carmelite Sisters for her brother Tadeusz.

The main charm of the old Strzyżawiecki park, whose area with the entire palace surroundings covered about 1 square kilometer, was its location on the high, rocky bank of the Boh. The park stretched primarily on both sides of the side wings of the house, forming dense clusters of greenery there.

Some parts of the garden, also studded with rocks, were kept in a completely wild state. The space from the main entrance avenue to the park was open. It formed a huge oval lawn. At the entrance to the courtyard, opposite the palace, grew a group of huge Vistula poplars.

Closely connected with the palace was the pavilion standing on its left side, which until the end bore the name “old kitchen.”

After installing the kitchen in the ground floor of the residential house, this pavilion was designated for other purposes. It was a one-story building, five-axis, with the south-facing courtyard elevation divided by half-columns and semicircularly closed panels housing rectangular doors and windows. The front elevation was crowned by a wide profiled cornice. Above this building rose a belvedere with a large semicircular window, also closed by a very pronounced profiled cornice. The north elevation of the “old kitchen” supposedly had a semicircular shape. This pavilion was directly connected to the new kitchen by an underground corridor.

A wide avenue, perpendicular to the entrance one, leading from the ceremonial courtyard between the outbuilding and the kitchen, led to the church also connected with the residence, simultaneously separating the park from the farm buildings. This temple, although it stood near the palace, was on the other side of the public road.

The Strzyżawiecki church under the invocation of Our Lady of Sorrows, which Chłopicki described as “very beautiful” and “purely Italian,” was founded by Mikołaj Grocholski in 1827. It was consecrated in 1838 by Bishop Mackiewicz of Kamianets. The project of this small but architecturally interesting temple was supposed to come from the same architect who built the palace. It received a basic rectangular plan. The facade was accentuated by an apparent risalit, divided by panels, closed by a triangular pediment, with a roof supported by corbels. The main entrance was enclosed by a recessed portico composed of two Tuscan columns. In the longer side elevations, at both ends, there were also one-axis risalits, closed by semicircular pediments. The apse also had a semicircular shape. All the strongly horizontally grooved elevations, under the crowning corbels, were encircled by a frieze with triglyphs and rosettes in the metopes, identical to that in the palace portico. The dominant feature of the church’s body was a turret in the form of a graceful gloriette, surrounded by Ionic columns, with a sphere and cross at the top.

The interior had only one nave with a barrel vault and sixteen similarly vaulted windows in two stories. There were three altars. In the main one, adorned with six white stucco columns, hung a large painting of Our Lady of Sorrows depicted standing, with folded hands and a sword in her chest. On the sides, against a background of black velvet, hung numerous votive offerings. The balustrade in front of the sanctuary, initially wooden, was replaced by Tadeusz Grocholski with a white marble one, more harmonizing with the whole.

The mensa, finished with a gilded tabernacle, was also made of artificial marble.

In the right side altar was a painting of the Holy Family, and in the left one, the Crowning of Christ with the Crown of Thorns. All of them were painted by Thumer, a student of Friedrich Overbeck. They were brought from Italy by Father Stanisław Chołoniewski, brother of Emilia Mikołajowa Grocholska. The church walls were covered with stucco with bas-reliefs. On the cornices stood eight gypsum urns, and above the cornices – four. The floor was laid with stone slabs. The ornamental pulpit was covered from the entrance by a tapestry curtain. Opposite the pulpit, on the right side, hung a large painting of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a copy of Murillo, executed by Jan Zasiedatel.

Etched on satin, the station paintings were protected under glass.

Doors located to the right of the main altar led to a passage room, where chests filled with capes and chasubles stood. Above the doors to the sacristy, in a golden frame, hung a portrait of the church’s founder, painted by Tadeusz Grocholski. Inside the sacristy, next to a large cross, portraits of bishops were placed on the walls. On the left side of the main altar were doors through which one entered a room used as a “dark room” on Good Friday. Next to the manor church stood a rectory and a bell tower.

The grave chapel. In the forest, on a high granite rock jutting into the middle of the Boh River, stood the chapel-mausoleum of the Grocholski family from Strzyżawka and Pietniczany, built according to the design of architect Laeufer.

It had a rectangular plan, with risalits on the sides and front. The front risalit was to house the main entrance doors, semicircularly closed. All the building’s elevations were covered with rustication and crowned with a cornice with corbels. The windowless chapel was covered by a dome with a drum equipped with windows illuminating the interior from above. In the underground, the bodies of deceased heirs of both localities were buried from the moment when in 1832 the Tsarist government dissolved the Dominican order in Vinnytsia.

The family graves of the Grocholski family were located until then in the underground of this monastery, founded by Michał Andrzej Grocholski, land judge of Bracław.

The entrance doors to the chapel were closed with a large stone slab, without any inscription. Only after its removal and descending a dozen steps down, did one encounter iron doors, behind which was the actual tomb. It was a spacious, rock-hewn hall with niches for coffins. Twenty could stand there at the top and as many in the bottom row. This building stood sealed for a long time, as it was not allowed to be used as a chapel. Only in 1866 was permission obtained to lay the body of the recently deceased Henryk Grocholski in its underground, and in 1872 his wife Ksawera, the chapel’s founders. Then, in 1888, after many persistent efforts, the Russian authorities granted permission to transport from the Strzyżawka cemetery, where they had rested until then, the remains of Michał Grocholski, starosta of Zwinogrod. At the same time, the mortal remains of Henryk and Ksawera Grocholski’s son, Władysław, were also transferred. The entire ceremony, however, had to be carried out in the greatest secrecy, and even the local parish priest could not participate in it.

According to the regulations in force, the entrance to the mausoleum had to be constantly sealed until 1905, when Tadeusz Grocholski managed to obtain permission from Governor Euler to make a door on the Boh side. However, it was accompanied by a reservation that nothing reminiscent of Catholic services was to be arranged inside.

Taking advantage of this opportunity to install these massive doors, a marble slab floor was made in the chapel.

At first, there was no question of erecting a normal altar. Therefore, Tadeusz Grocholski painted a life-size figure of Christ crucified on a massive copper sheet (according to a photograph of Bonnat’s painting) and adorned the empty interior with this painting.

Directly opposite the entrance, a wooden cross with a figure of Christ was placed at the same time. Finally,

They saw the old hetman Kalinowski, as he defeated the Cossacks here. They heard the song of the Bar Confederates, who with song and the glory of Mary competed here with the superior force of the Russians. They heard the battle trumpets and the clash of Kościuszko’s and Prince Józef’s troops.

That knight without blemish formed his regiments of Cossacks here, stood under his banner, and here his loyal Cossacks shouted, “Bat’ku Josype, lead us to the cannons.”

Then came times of peace for Strzyżawka, times of work on the land and waiting for a better tomorrow.

At that time, Tadeusz Count Grocholski lasted the longest here.

He was a noble man, a diligent host, and a painter of great measure.

He studied painting in Italy and with Bonnat in Paris. He left landscapes and portraits. He also painted frescoes with Countess Działyńska in Gołuchów of the Czartoryski family. Countess Zofia Grocholska, wife of Count Tadeusz, and Count Remigiusz, Henryk, and Ksawery are the current owners of Strzyżawka.

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Strzyżawka is a place beautifully situated on a hill, right at the mouth of the river of the same name as the town. According to documents from the 15th century, which were kept in the collections of the local manor before the First World War, the description of the town “Striżawka” mentioned, among other things, that the then owner of the surrounding lands was a certain Dmytro Striżawśkyj.

According to the same source, there were later six or even seven Uniate churches, and a large Basilian monastery stood a verst from the town, on a high granite rock jutting into the Boh River.

After Dmytro Striżawśkyj, the successive heirs of Strzyżawka were the Lubomirski family, and then the Potocki family. From Antoni Potocki, this estate was acquired by Michał from Grabów Grocholski h. Syrokomla (born in 1705), son of Ludwik, cupbearer of Dobrzyń, and Justyna from the Leniewicz family h. Prawdzic, commander of the Ukrainian party, land judge of Bracław, member of parliament, founder of the church and monastery of the Dominicans in Vinnytsia (1758) and the chapel in Tereszki. He came from a family that moved from Sandomierz to Volhynia at the beginning of the 16th century, and in the second half of the 18th century also to Podolia.

Michał Grocholski already owned Hryców and Tereszki in Volhynia, and Strzyżawka in Podolia. From his wife, Anna from the Radzimiński family h. Lubicz, daughter of Michał, stolnik of Czernihów, and Małgorzata Kamieńska h. Ślepowron, he received Pietniczany and Woronowica in the Bracław district. They fell to her after the childless death of her only brother, Marcin Radzimiński. In this way, the fortune of the Grocholski family was further, very significantly increased. Although both the Pietniczany and Woronowicki estates turned out to be excessively indebted, after long efforts they were cleared of pledges and claims.

Michał from Grabów Grocholski divided his extensive Volhynian and Podolian estates between his two sons in such a way that Strzyżawka and Pietniczany in Podolia, and Hubcza in Volhynia were received by Marcin, voivode of Bracław, Knight of the Order of St. Stanislaus, and the rest by Franciszek, Crown Swordbearer.

Voivode Marcin Grocholski (1727-1807), married to Cecylia from the Chołoniewski family h. Korczak, daughter of Adam and Salomea from the Kątski family h. Brochwicz, in addition to the estates received from his father, also had Hryców, Sabarów, Soroczyn, Stepanówka, Woronowica, Sudyłków, Kołomyjówka, Michałówka, and Stadnica. He divided these extensive estates among his five sons, of whom Jan Duklan received Sudyłków, Michał, starosta of Zwinogrod – Pietniczany, Ludwik – Hryców, Adam died a heroic death at the side of Kościuszko at Maciejowice, and Strzyżawka fell to Mikołaj Grocholski, marshal of the nobility, and later Podolian governor.

Mikołaj Grocholski (1782 – 1864), married to Emilia from the Chołoniewski family, left the most lasting mark in the history of Strzyżawka. He founded a Catholic church and a palace there. In addition, he also erected a convent for the Visitation Sisters in Kamianets-Podilskyi.

The only daughter of Mikołaj and Emilia Grocholscy – Maria, after marrying Wojciech Dzierżykraj – Morawski h. Nałęcz, brought him, among other things, Strzyżawka as a dowry. When Maria from the Grocholscy Morawska died young, and the widower took holy orders, Strzyżawka was inherited by the youngest of their three sons – Józef Dzierżykraj – Morawski.

After temporarily leaving the hands of the Grocholski family, both the residence and the Strzyżawiecki estate fell into great neglect. The owners lived elsewhere. Józef Morawski even decided to sell this property. According to the laws then in force in the so-called “taken provinces,” the new buyer could only be Russian. The matter gained publicity, and there were lively protests from the Polish opinion. It was then that Morawski’s cousin, Tadeusz Grocholski, who was then in Paris on his beloved painting studies, where he was studying under the guidance of the famous portraitist Leon Bonnat, abandoned his studies and returned to the country to save the family estate threatened with passing into foreign hands. Since the normal purchase by a Pole was impossible under the conditions of the time, it was agreed to sign a sixteen-year lease contract between both negotiating parties, which in essence was equivalent to a sale and purchase.

Tadeusz Przemysław Michał Count Grocholski (born 15 May 1839 in Pietniczany – died 29 July 1913 in Strzyżawka), son of Henryk and Franciszka Ksawera from the Brzozowski family h. Belina, married to Zofia Countess Zamoyska (1865 – 1957), daughter of Stanisław and Róża from the Potocki family, energetically set about lifting the estate from ruin.

Edward Chłopicki, who visited Podolia in 1875, tells of its size. Although he admired the wonderful location of the palace, standing on the top of a rock covered with giant trees and ruling over the entire area with a lofty colonnade of the porch, his admiration diminished as he got closer to the site. Everywhere he saw traces of complete neglect, which was eloquently evidenced even by the “notched” entrance gate.

Despite the deplorable state of Strzyżawka, both the farm and the residence, Tadeusz Grocholski had to wait a few more years to start rebuilding. Just at the moment of his taking over the estate, that is, in 1877, the Tsarist government rented the entire building as a hospital for wounded enemy prisoners arriving from the battlefields of the Russo-Turkish war. Therefore, the restoration of this beautiful building, full at the time of rubble, dust, and vermin, could only begin in the 1880s. While rebuilding Strzyżawka, Tadeusz Grocholski had to fight simultaneously for 30 years with both Józef Morawski, who, having squandered another estate, demanded additional payment after some time, and with the official Russian authorities trying to evict him from Strzyżawka. This fight was won by him only thanks to the intervention of a friend from his youth, Minister of the Court Baron Frederichs with the Tsar. While working on rebuilding the farm and the house, Tadeusz Grocholski also devoted a lot of time to social work, among other things, as vice-president of the Podolian Agricultural Society, and together with his brother Stanisław, organized a peasant bank, etc. He also painted a lot. His favorite subjects were genre scenes, religious paintings, and portraits. He also copied masterpieces of European painting.

The Strzyżawiecki palace, built by Mikołaj Grocholski in the years 1806 – 1811 according to a project by an unknown architect, unfortunately, stood – as already mentioned – on a high stone rock, right above the Boh River, amid an extensive landscape park. From the road, lined on both sides with huge Vistula poplars, leading from Vinnytsia to Kalinówka and further to Koziatyn and Berdychiv, one turned left to the manor, across a high and long bridge over the Boh.

Further, the road led up a fairly high hill, on which on the right side stood a Catholic church, and on the left the manor buildings, along with a garden surrounded by a high wall. Then, making two right-angle turns, along an avenue lined with old linden trees, one entered the pre-palace courtyard. On the right side of the avenue, one passed a warehouse and granary, further an orangery and cowhouse with a vegetable and fruit garden stretching behind them, while on the left side, there was a woodshed, stable, carriage house, outbuilding, and the so-called “old kitchen.”

The palace, standing opposite the end of the linden avenue, on the opposite side of the large, rectangular courtyard, had the plan of a short horseshoe. From the west side, that is, from the driveway, it was a one-story building, with a five-axis central part raised by a low floor, from the east side two-story, also with a small floor. In the fifteen-axis facade of the palace, a six-column portico in the grand order, placed at the two-story part, dominated. All the columns, set on a low terrace, were equipped with Ionic capitals. The extreme ones, however, had a square cross-section, while the others were round. The columns supported an entablature, surrounded from below by a wide profiled cornice, and in the middle, only from the front, a frieze composed of rosettes. The entire portico was encircled by a crowning cornice with corbels. In the rectangular, angled middle wall of the attic, stucco decorations depicting cornucopias, plant tendrils, and rosettes were placed, and against their background, an oval shield with the Syrokomla coat of arms of the palace’s founder and the Korczak of his wife. Above them, a nine-pole count’s crown was later added. The main entrance doors, enclosed in narrow frames, and the four ten-pane windows, framed by the portico, had triangular pediments supported on consoles, while the windows of the small floor only had frames with a slight emphasis on the sills. The portico section’s stories were separated by a smooth band. Above it, a row of short corbels protruded, on which a narrow balcony was placed. The portico’s ceiling was divided into five fields and decorated with large rosettes. The plastic decoration of the two-axis side wings, as well as the three-axis parts of the elevation between them and the portico, differed little from the decoration of the two-story part. Only the windows, identical in shape and size, had not triangular, but horizontal pediments, also supported on consoles, and the smoothly plastered walls were topped with a cornice with corbels.

The eastern elevation of the palace, facing the Boh River, was much more impressive. Although it had no side wings, it was accentuated on five central axes by a Corinthian pilastered risalit with a three-story portico.

The Corinthian columns in the grand order rested on rusticated arcades located at the ground floor.

The terrace above the arcades was surrounded by a wrought iron balustrade. The decoration of the risalit section with pilastered corners was similar to the decoration of the portico on the driveway side. Only the windows of the middle story were replaced here with porte-fenêtres opening onto a spacious terrace under the colonnade, from where particularly beautiful views of the river and the area beyond it could be admired. The garden portico was crowned by a triangular pediment surrounded by corbels. Its tympanum was also covered with stucco decorations with the main motif of an oval coat of arms. The ground floor of the side sections, with smaller windows divided into eight panes, had rusticated plaster, while the upper story had smooth plaster. The same was true of the three-axis side elevations, southern and northern. The stories were horizontally divided by paired smooth bands and a narrow cornice running under the sills of the high ground floor windows. All elevations were crowned by a cornice with corbels. The central part of the palace was covered by a smooth, shingled gable roof, while the side sections had a flattened hip roof hidden behind a tral balustrade surrounding the entire house.

The main residential and representative floor still had a two-bay layout after the reconstruction, but rather complicated, without symmetry, with numerous corridors, vestibules, bathrooms, etc. The decoration of individual rooms was also varied, from modest to exquisite. All of them had smooth parquet floors, most often laid with several types of wood in geometric patterns. The high, double-leaf paneled doors were covered with white lacquer or dark polish. The framed upper and lower panels were decorated with carved oval wreaths. In many rooms, the ceilings were supported by coves or corbels. Some stoves had an original, rarely seen shape.

The interior of the palace was entered through a large vestibule illuminated by two windows. Here, opposite the entrance, there were glazed doors, and behind them a spiral staircase leading to the ground floor or the upper floor. Above the doors hung hunting trophies in the form of a boar’s head, old muskets, spears, hunting horns, and others. Nearby was a clock regulating the life of the entire house. Above the two low stoves hung still life paintings. One depicted roses, the other fruits. The left wall was adorned with portraits of Michał Grocholski and his wife Anna from the Radzimiński family, painted by an unidentified artist. The furniture in the vestibule included two chests, one of which, appropriately closed during the day, served as a bed for the duty Cossack at night. On the second chest, standing in the middle, lay a wooden box with checkers for the entertainment of the palace Cossacks. The remaining furniture, that is, benches and heavy oak chairs, came from the farm school in Podzamcze, the Zamoyski estate.

From the vestibule to the right, one entered the so-called “first room,” which had one window still within the portico frame, and the other in the ground floor section. This room, with a ceiling on a cove and a floor laid in small squares, was maintained in a light tone and served as a library. Around the walls stood not very high, glazed bookcases, and above them and on all free spaces hung family portraits and miniatures.

The center of the room was occupied by a table with rounded corners, covered with green cloth, and chairs with bent armrests. An Empire-style chandelier made of bronze hung from the ceiling. Marble busts stood on the bookcases.

Directly adjacent to the library was also a two-window room of the same shape and dimensions for the master of the house. A narrow corridor resulting from the reconstruction running across the palace, already in its part extended by the wing, separated the central part of the house from four rooms arranged along its southern wall.

The former two rooms situated on the left side of the vestibule, counterparts to the library and master’s room, were converted into three smaller guest rooms. The entire left wing of the house was also divided.

The representative suite, with an enfilade layout of doors, was located in the eastern bay, which was affected by changes to a much lesser extent.

The entire center was occupied by a large ballroom, extended by a risalit, known as the “white” room because of its walls covered with white polished stucco.

It was essentially rectangular, but the cleverly designed ceiling made it appear oval. The central, three-axis part of the room had a height of two stories and a flat ceiling. Above the three porte-fenêtres leading to the terrace were three square windows. Both side parts had semicircular vaults without upper windows. The central flat ceiling was decorated with a large rosette, and four much smaller ones. All were made of white stucco. The semicircular vaults were covered with stucco of a plant grotesque character, also with rosettes, enclosed in wide, smooth trapezoidal frames. The cornice and coves of the vaults, composed of a frieze also with plant grotesque themes, were enclosed from below by a profiled cornice, and from above by a cornice with corbels. The cornice rested on four Corinthian half-columns. A large rectangular field above the cornice with corbels, opposite the upper windows, was filled with a stucco composition, apparently with scenes from ancient life. Both inner corners of the room were divided by two panels, framed at the sides by pilasters, connected at the top by semicircular profiled cornices. The floor had a geometric pattern.

The “white” room was probably not finished by the palace’s founder. It had no fireplace, appropriate chandeliers for which rosettes were prepared on the central ceiling, nor wall sconces. This lack was supplemented by a huge chandelier for 365 candles, cleverly made from a series of wooden rings of various sizes, lacquered white, covered with golden metal leaves. This chandelier was made by a local house carpenter according to the idea of Stanisław Grocholski as a wedding gift for his brother Tadeusz with Zofia Countess Zamoyska. This room never had furnishings appropriate for it. Huge late Biedermeier mahogany sofas stood in the corners, and in front of them tables and chairs in the same style. Recently, the “white” room served as the center of family life. Breakfasts, lunches, and dinners were eaten here, and lessons were done with the youth. There was also an old piano here.

On the north side of the ballroom was also a rectangular, but much smaller, three-window “blue” room. Dark-toned, richly inlaid doors led to it.

It owed its name to the walls covered in blue stucco. The ceiling of this room was covered with white stucco. The floor also had a geometric pattern, but different from that in the “white” room.

In two corners opposite the windows were vaulted niches, and in them square stoves, composed of two stories: a lower one with a larger cross-section and an upper one with a smaller one. Both were crowned by large vases with handles. The movable furnishings of the “blue” room consisted of a table, sofa, and chairs made of mahogany.

In the middle stood a huge, old-fashioned billiard table. This room was rarely used. The northeast corner room served as a residential room, as did the other remaining ones, also located along the north wall.

Equally beautiful doors, as to the “blue” room, led from the “white” room southward to the adjacent salon, which was not given any name. Its ceiling rested not on a cove, but on a cornice with corbels, enclosed at the top and bottom by narrow bands of stucco “in bull’s eyes.” There were two rectangular stoves, recessed into the walls, topped with a profiled cornice, covered with dark painting with figural motifs, as well as a classicist white marble fireplace, decorated with bas-reliefs and bronzes. The floor consisted of large, light squares enclosed in narrow, dark frames.

From the ceiling adorned with a small rosette hung a bronze-crystal chandelier. The furnishings consisted mainly of soft upholstered furniture from the late 19th century and several mahogany chests and cabinets. Among them, a console between the windows, an authentic Boulle, and a small table in the Louis XV style, richly inlaid and decorated with bronzes, stood out.

The salon also gathered many works of art. Among them, one of the leading places was occupied by a portrait of Mikołaj Grocholski, founder of the palace and church, painted à la Byron by Józef Oleszkiewicz. A large Italian embroidery from the 16th century, made on silk canvas, occupied a significant part of another wall. Its design depicted a black eagle with outstretched wings, holding a crown in its claws. Below, among stylized plant motifs, a shell among fruits was visible. This embroidery was given to Tadeusz Grocholski by his mother Cecylia Chołoniewska, superior of the Visitation Sisters in Kamianets-Podilskyi. Above the doors leading to the library room hung a painting by Rosa Bonheur, The Plow.

Next to it, on a column, stood a bronze of Michael the Archangel casting down the dragon, and on the console placed between the windows, a bust of Julia from the Grocholski family Poniatowska, made of white marble, unfortunately, the author’s chisel is unknown. Above the fireplace hung a mirror in gilded frames. The fireplace cornice was adorned with an 18th-century clock in a gilded bronze case and candelabra made of similar material.

Next to the salon was a one-window room called the bath room. A large marble bathtub stood there. This room served as a transitional room from the salon to the southeast corner room, with walls covered in uniform celadon stucco, serving as the lady of the house’s bedroom. Four columns, stuccoed in the same color but slightly veined, supported on black square bases, separated one-third of the rear part of the room from the front, forming an alcove.

The ceiling, decorated with stucco, rested on a cove composed of a block cornice enclosed in “in bull’s eyes” strips. Several dozen centimeters below, the room was encircled by a wide profiled cornice, also with side strips “in bull’s eyes”.

On one of the side walls was a white marble fireplace. The parquet floor had some pattern. During the reconstruction of the bedroom, its architecture was partially disrupted by cutting off the rear part for a narrow corridor, which began at the front living room of the master of the house.

Here too, the hosts gathered many valuable items. These included primarily a large Boulle bed placed in the alcove, given by Princess Maria from the Grocholski family Czartoryska to her brother Stanisław. Above it, framed in gold, hung a tapestry depicting the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, made by the Visitation Sisters in Kamianets-Podilskyi. In addition, the room was decorated with several other paintings. The furniture included two ebony wardrobes with bronze decorations, a large mahogany desk, small round tables, and Empire mahogany chairs upholstered with floral damask. On the fireplace was placed a bronze head, believed to be a likeness of the Orlątko, and bronze candelabra depicting kneeling angels holding vases in their hands. This was meant to give the impression as if they were pouring oil into lamps.

On the low floor, from the front portico side, there was a rectangular room in the middle with three windows and doors to the balcony, and on the sides two one-window rooms serving as residential. All of them, with modest decor, were furnished comfortably and modernly.

The Strzyżawiecki palace also housed many works of art, gathered mainly in the representative rooms, which were sometimes moved. Particularly interesting was the gallery of paintings with various themes, most often portraits. In addition to those already mentioned, they included works: Portrait of a Man in a Ruff with Lace attributed to Van Loo, Saint Cecilia Playing the Organ Surrounded by Angels by Rubens, Madonna with Child Jesus in the Arms by Carlo Maratta, Spanish Lady in a Lace Collar by Sutterman, and among the portraits: King Stanisław August (by Marcello Bacciarelli), Katarzyna from the Rzyszczewski family Rafałowa Chołoniewska (by Józef Grassi), Marcin Grocholski, voivode of Bracław, and Cecylia from the Chołoniewski family Grocholska (by Jan Chrzciciel Lampi Jr.), Franciszek from Grabów Grocholski, swordbearer, and Helena Justyna from the Lesznicki family Franciszkowa Grocholska (by Józef Pitschmann), Jan from Dukla Grocholski, oboźny with the rank of general, and Emilia from the Chołoniewski family Mikołajowa Grocholska (by Reichel), Franciszka Ksawera from the Brzozowski family Henrykowa Grocholska (from a photograph), Tadeusz Grocholski from 1889 and the same Tadeusz from a photograph, and Zofia from the Zamoyski family Tadeuszowa Grocholska by Kazimierz Pochwalski, and a portrait of Prince Adam Czartoryski and a copy from Titian of the composition L’amour sacre et l’amour profane by Leon Kapliński, Henryk Grocholski (from a photograph), Róża from the Potocki family Stanisławowa Zamoyska and Stanisław Zamoyski (copy from the original by Andrzej Mniszech by Jan Zasiedatel), as well as a self-portrait of Tadeusz Grocholski.

Among the portraits of unspecified authors were likenesses: of Pope Pius IX, Karol Belina Brzozowski (father of Ksawera Grocholska), Szczęsny Potocki, Remigian Grocholski (participant in the relief of Vienna), starosta Michał Grocholski (son of voivode Marcin), Felicja Marianna from the Śliźniów family Grocholska, Ludwik Grocholski (also son of the voivode of Bracław), Adam Myszka-Chołoniewski (castellan of Busk), Salomea from the Kątski family Adamowa Chołoniewska (considered “beautiful”), Ksawery Chołoniewski, Ignacy Chołoniewski, Adam Józef Chołoniewski, and Father Stanisław Chołoniewski (brother of Emilia Mikołajowa Grocholska). A separate group consisted of copies of great masters or portraits painted by the master of the house, Tadeusz Grocholski: a copy from Titian of the Sorrowful Mother of God, also after Titian Saint John the Baptist with the Lamb, and among the likenesses of his brother Tadeusz Stanisław Grocholski, sister Helena from the Grocholski family Brzozowska, wife Zofia from the Zamoyski family Tadeuszowa Grocholska, children of Tadeusz, Remigiusz, Michał, Ksawery, and Zofia, and studies of “a village girl from Pietniczany,” “a girl,” and “a girl standing by the river and drawing water.”

In the group of miniatures, two were signed by Jan Nepomucen Ender.

They depicted Henryk Grocholski and his wife Ksawera from the Brzozowski family, others: Ksawery Myszka – Chołoniewski, Ignacy Myszka – Chołoniewski, the Visitation Sister Maria Cecylia Myszka – Chołoniewska, Felicja Marianna from the Śliźniów family Michałowa Grocholska, Otylia from the Poniatowski family Adolfowa Grocholska, Kamilla from the Czetwertyński family Chołoniewska, wife of Józef Adam, Natalia (?) from the Czetwertyński family Naryshkin, Maria from the Grocholski family Witoldowa Czartoryska at a young age, Stanisław Grocholski at a similar age, Tadeusz Grocholski (as a child), and a Chołoniewski with an unknown name (in uniform).

Besides, in the collections were paintings: Gray Horse in a Meadow by Juliusz Kossak, Wolf Hunt by Józef Brandt, fifteen “Italian landscapes,” a large collection of engravings, and many albums with Tadeusz Grocholski’s own drawings. Alongside the previously mentioned, there were also two other tapestries: Madonna with Child Jesus and Israelites Weeping by the Walls of Babylon, as well as fifteen Polish belts by Jan Madżarski and Paschalis Jakubowicz.

The palace library recently numbered over a thousand volumes. These were works mostly in French, although there were also rare Krakow editions from the 16th century, and even prints pressed in Podolia. Many of these books had valuable bindings of Cordovan leather with gold-embossed spine titles and pressed ornaments. From the earlier collection, the religious-scientific library, started by Mikołaj Grocholski (1781 – 1864), was donated by his grandson, Father Marian Morawski, to the Jesuits in Krakow. The part that survived in Strzyżawka until the First World War was a gift from Princess Maria Czartoryska after her entry into the Carmelite Sisters for her brother Tadeusz.

The main charm of the old Strzyżawiecki park, whose area with the entire palace surroundings covered about 1 square kilometer, was its location on the high, rocky bank of the Boh. The park stretched primarily on both sides of the side wings of the house, forming dense clusters of greenery there.

Some parts of the garden, also studded with rocks, were kept in a completely wild state. The space from the main entrance avenue to the park was open. It formed a huge oval lawn. At the entrance to the courtyard, opposite the palace, grew a group of huge Vistula poplars.

Closely connected with the palace was the pavilion standing on its left side, which until the end bore the name “old kitchen.”

After installing the kitchen in the ground floor of the residential house, this pavilion was designated for other purposes. It was a one-story building, five-axis, with the south-facing courtyard elevation divided by half-columns and semicircularly closed panels housing rectangular doors and windows. The front elevation was crowned by a wide profiled cornice. Above this building rose a belvedere with a large semicircular window, also closed by a very pronounced profiled cornice. The north elevation of the “old kitchen” supposedly had a semicircular shape. This pavilion was directly connected to the new kitchen by an underground corridor.

A wide avenue, perpendicular to the entrance one, leading from the ceremonial courtyard between the outbuilding and the kitchen, led to the church also connected with the residence, simultaneously separating the park from the farm buildings. This temple, although it stood near the palace, was on the other side of the public road.

The Strzyżawiecki church under the invocation of Our Lady of Sorrows, which Chłopicki described as “very beautiful” and “purely Italian,” was founded by Mikołaj Grocholski in 1827. It was consecrated in 1838 by Bishop Mackiewicz of Kamianets. The project of this small but architecturally interesting temple was supposed to come from the same architect who built the palace. It received a basic rectangular plan. The facade was accentuated by an apparent risalit, divided by panels, closed by a triangular pediment, with a roof supported by corbels. The main entrance was enclosed by a recessed portico composed of two Tuscan columns. In the longer side elevations, at both ends, there were also one-axis risalits, closed by semicircular pediments. The apse also had a semicircular shape. All the strongly horizontally grooved elevations, under the crowning corbels, were encircled by a frieze with triglyphs and rosettes in the metopes, identical to that in the palace portico. The dominant feature of the church’s body was a turret in the form of a graceful gloriette, surrounded by Ionic columns, with a sphere and cross at the top.

The interior had only one nave with a barrel vault and sixteen similarly vaulted windows in two stories. There were three altars. In the main one, adorned with six white stucco columns, hung a large painting of Our Lady of Sorrows depicted standing, with folded hands and a sword in her chest. On the sides, against a background of black velvet, hung numerous votive offerings. The balustrade in front of the sanctuary, initially wooden, was replaced by Tadeusz Grocholski with a white marble one, more harmonizing with the whole.

The mensa, finished with a gilded tabernacle, was also made of artificial marble.

In the right side altar was a painting of the Holy Family, and in the left one, the Crowning of Christ with the Crown of Thorns. All of them were painted by Thumer, a student of Friedrich Overbeck. They were brought from Italy by Father Stanisław Chołoniewski, brother of Emilia Mikołajowa Grocholska. The church walls were covered with stucco with bas-reliefs. On the cornices stood eight gypsum urns, and above the cornices – four. The floor was laid with stone slabs. The ornamental pulpit was covered from the entrance by a tapestry curtain. Opposite the pulpit, on the right side, hung a large painting of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a copy of Murillo, executed by Jan Zasiedatel.

Etched on satin, the station paintings were protected under glass.

Doors located to the right of the main altar led to a passage room, where chests filled with capes and chasubles stood. Above the doors to the sacristy, in a golden frame, hung a portrait of the church’s founder, painted by Tadeusz Grocholski. Inside the sacristy, next to a large cross, portraits of bishops were placed on the walls. On the left side of the main altar were doors through which one entered a room used as a “dark room” on Good Friday. Next to the manor church stood a rectory and a bell tower.

The grave chapel. In the forest, on a high granite rock jutting into the middle of the Boh River, stood the chapel-mausoleum of the Grocholski family from Strzyżawka and Pietniczany, built according to the design of architect Laeufer.

It had a rectangular plan, with risalits on the sides and front. The front risalit was to house the main entrance doors, semicircularly closed. All the building’s elevations were covered with rustication and crowned with a cornice with corbels. The windowless chapel was covered by a dome with a drum equipped with windows illuminating the interior from above. In the underground, the bodies of deceased heirs of both localities were buried from the moment when in 1832 the Tsarist government dissolved the Dominican order in Vinnytsia.

The family graves of the Grocholski family were located until then in the underground of this monastery, founded by Michał Andrzej Grocholski, land judge of Bracław.

The entrance doors to the chapel were closed with a large stone slab, without any inscription. Only after its removal and descending a dozen steps down, did one encounter iron doors, behind which was the actual tomb. It was a spacious, rock-hewn hall with niches for coffins. Twenty could stand there at the top and as many in the bottom row. This building stood sealed for a long time, as it was not allowed to be used as a chapel. Only in 1866 was permission obtained to lay the body of the recently deceased Henryk Grocholski in its underground, and in 1872 his wife Ksawera, the chapel’s founders. Then, in 1888, after many persistent efforts, the Russian authorities granted permission to transport from the Strzyżawka cemetery, where they had rested until then, the remains of Michał Grocholski, starosta of Zwinogrod. At the same time, the mortal remains of Henryk and Ksawera Grocholski’s son, Władysław, were also transferred. The entire ceremony, however, had to be carried out in the greatest secrecy, and even the local parish priest could not participate in it.

According to the regulations in force, the entrance to the mausoleum had to be constantly sealed until 1905, when Tadeusz Grocholski managed to obtain permission from Governor Euler to make a door on the Boh side. However, it was accompanied by a reservation that nothing reminiscent of Catholic services was to be arranged inside.

Taking advantage of this opportunity to install these massive doors, a marble slab floor was made in the chapel.

At first, there was no question of erecting a normal altar. Therefore, Tadeusz Grocholski painted a life-size figure of Christ crucified on a massive copper sheet (according to a photograph of Bonnat’s painting) and adorned the empty interior with this painting.

Directly opposite the entrance, a wooden cross with a figure of Christ was placed at the same time. Finally,