A provincial governor's house that became a family seat
The palace went up between 1736 and 1742 for Michał Bieliński, voivode of Chełmno. The design is attributed to the Italian architect Józef II Fontana, and the layout follows the baroque entre cour et jardin formula: the house in the middle, a court of honour on one side, a garden on the other.
In 1799 the estate passed to the Zamoyski family, who held it until 1944. For most of the nineteenth century it was one property among several. That changed with Count Konstanty Zamoyski, who decided to make Kozłówka his principal seat and began a rebuilding that ran on until the First World War.
Those years added the columned portico raised on arcades, a garden terrace with steps, and the two tall towers that frame the building. A modest country house turned into one of the grandest residences in what was then Russian-ruled Congress Poland.
Nothing here is a reconstruction
What sets Kozłówka apart from almost every other Polish residence is that the rooms are original. The neo-baroque and neo-regency ceiling paintings, designed in the studio of Jan Heurich the Younger, the Meissen tile stoves, the marble fireplaces and the oak floors are not post-war replacements. They are the fabric installed over a century ago.
Pictures cover the walls in the dense nineteenth-century manner: family portraits, likenesses of people connected with the house, and among them copies of European masterpieces. Commissioning copies was standard practice at the time and read as a sign of learning rather than thrift. Furniture, mirrors, carpets, porcelain, gilded bronzes and silver complete the set.
The house was also unusually modern. Water tanks were hidden inside the towers, and bathrooms were fitted on the ground and first floors — rare comforts on the western edge of the Russian Empire.
An entail, and an Olympic training camp
In 1903, after years of lobbying, Tsar Nicholas II approved the Kozłówka entail. The estate could not be divided or sold and passed automatically to the eldest heir, which is why the collection survived as a single whole rather than being split between branches of the family.
In 1928 Count Adam Michał Zamoyski, the owner and chairman of the Sokół gymnastics society, hosted the Polish gymnastics team in the palace gardens as they prepared for the Amsterdam Olympics.
July 1944, and why the collection stayed
In early July 1944, with the front approaching, the family sent their most portable treasures — miniatures, medallions, porcelain, ivories — to friends in Warsaw. It was precisely that part which was lost, destroyed in the Warsaw Uprising. What stayed behind at Kozłówka came through.
Around 20 July the Red Army took over the palace and used it as a commander's quarters. The officer billeted here personally saw to it that the remaining furnishings were neither looted nor damaged, which is the main reason the interiors look as they do today.
The palace became state property in November 1944 and served museum purposes almost at once; for a time the culture ministry used it as a central store for works gathered across the country. It returned to full museum status in the 1970s and has carried the name Zamoyski Family Museum since 1992. The whole palace and park complex was listed as a Historic Monument of Poland on 16 May 2007.
The carriage house full of Lenins
Kozłówka's second attraction sits in the former carriage house. The Gallery of Socialist Realism is the only collection of its kind in Poland: more than sixteen hundred sculptures, paintings, drawings, prints and posters from the first half of the 1950s. Much of it arrived after 1956, when the style lost its official standing and the works were moved into storage.
Outside stand the dismantled monuments of Bolesław Bierut, Lenin and Julian Marchlewski. Party speeches, newsreel fragments and songs of the period play through speakers as you walk round. The few steps between a magnate's drawing room and a propaganda gallery do more than either display could on its own.
Chapel, garden and what is nearby
Beside the palace stands a chapel modelled on the one at Versailles, holding a copy of the tomb of Zofia Zamoyska, née Czartoryska. In front of the house lies a French baroque garden, and around it a park of some twenty hectares with a monument to Napoleonic soldiers.
The Kozłówka Landscape Park begins just south of the village, so the visit extends into woodland without getting back in the car. Kozłówka also combines easily with Lublin and Kazimierz Dolny into a few days in the region.
Getting there
- By car — about nine kilometres west of Lubartów and just under thirty north of Lublin; there is a car park at the museum.
- Without a car — train or coach to Lubartów, then a local bus towards Kamionka.
- By bike — the route from Lubartów runs through the landscape park and is flat throughout.
Before you go
The palace is seen on guided tours and the number of entries each day is capped, so in high season it pays to arrive early or ask the museum about booking ahead. The gallery and carriage house are separate visits; half a day covers the whole site comfortably.
Interiors are kept dim to protect the fittings, which can disappoint anyone hoping to photograph them. The courtyard and garden are another matter, and the portico looks best from the approach drive.
How to get there and practical info
- Location
- the village of Kozłówka, Lubartów County, Lublin Voivodeship, about thirty kilometres north of Lublin
- What to see
- the palace interiors, the chapel, the Gallery of Socialist Realism in the carriage house, the baroque garden and park
- Age
- built 1736–1742, enlarged around the turn of the twentieth century
- Status
- Historic Monument of Poland since 2007, home of the Zamoyski Family Museum
- Time needed
- around two hours for the palace and chapel, half a day with the gallery and park
- Without a car
- train or coach to Lubartów, then a local bus towards Kamionka
- Accessibility
- park and courtyard are level; the palace route covers several floors by stairs
- Current opening times and tickets
- official website of the Zamoyski Family Museum
When to go
The garden is just coming into leaf and the house is still quiet — before the May holidays this is the easiest time to get on a tour.
The busiest season, especially at weekends and with school groups. On a hot day the cool of the state rooms is an argument in itself.
Colour in the park, fewer groups, and good afternoon light on the portico. A good time to walk on into the landscape park.
The quietest months, though the visitor route is often reduced — worth checking first. The rooms are unheated, so dress for it.
Other sights in Lublin Voivodeship
Straight-line distances from „Kozłówka Palace" — calculated from real coordinates. By road it is often further.
Where to stay nearby
We are still building the list of verified properties in the Lublin Voivodeship region. If you run a guesthouse, a cottage or an apartment nearby — add your property.
Add your property →
