REWALORYZACJA XVII-WIECZNEGO PARKU W TRZEBINACH KOŁO LESZNA

Trzebiny, a village of mediaeval origin (mentioned in 1360) and Polish-German lineage, is located in south-western Greater Poland, in the commune of Święciechowa, 9 kilometres to the west of Leszno. From the 1920s to 1945 Trzebiny lay in the western borderlands of the Republic, and during the inter-war period it adjoined the German state frontier. The owners of the landed estates, the von Lessen family, left Trzebiny for the Reich, fearing the approaching front. The post-1945 influx of a new population became one the reasons for the rapid devastation of the abandoned palace and park. The reconstruction of the historical complex, initiated in 1982, was completed in 1987 – a period which we describe as stage I. It also encompasses the garden premises featured in the regular part of the park and the park sculptures, damaged during the post-war period and reconstructed in 1993. Stage II, which took place in 1996-1999 and 2001-2003, supplemented the plants and formed and enlarged the rows of trees. A reconstructed fountain, a copy of Bernini’s Triton Drinking from a Corncupia, was placed in the southern part of the regular section of the park. In the landscape part of the park the tree crowns were pruned, dry branches and boughs were removed, and the tension lines were repaired. At the same time, an archeological reconnaissance of the terrain discovered relics of prehistorical settlements (the Lusatian culture) as well as settlements from the Late Middle Ages and the modern era. A mediaeval tower-manor house was found on the spot of the present-day “Four seasons” bower. Relics of a seventeenth - eighteenth-century residential development were registered to the south of the palace, near the historical complex of ponds. Flagstones, visible in the Duncker lithograph, were disclosed during plantings carried out in the 1990s in the south-western part of the park. The palace-park complex is located in the valley of the Krzycki Rift. One of the fragments of the old river-valley was transformed into a pond. Melchior Gurowski, who commissioned the construction of the “old manor” completed in 1680-1690, is considered to have been the builder of the object (mentioned in 1709), while the project is ascribed to an architect from the circle of Jan Catenazzi. The park surrounding the manor house was described as an Italian garden. The successive owners, members of the Nieżychowski family, rebuilt the park in about the middle of the eighteenth century. This is the period of the origin of the stone sculptures whose fragments were discovered in the park. After 1860, axial elements of the classical Italian garden became obliterated in the course of work conducted by the Von Leesens. As a result, the garden assumed the shape of a landscape park embellished with sculptures and flower beds. The park, whose area totals 6,1 hectars, contains trees of assorted ages, the most ancient being about 200 years-old. The varied species in the ground cover include lilies of the valley, goldilock and periwinkle. Squirrels are among the permanent residents of the park, and tree crowns offer nesting to black woodpeckers, nightingales, wood pigeons and the tawny owl. The regular layout of the park was recreated in the area of the presumed Italian garden, and nineteenth- century stone statues were situated in place of the Baroque originals, with an obelisk featuring the von Leesen coat of arms in the centre. The borderlines of the regular part of the park were enclosed by a row of hornbeam and stone pedestals scattered symmetrically on both sides. The reconstruction of the park is being continued up to this day. At present, chief tasks include cleaning the pond, rendering the culverts patent, and the construction of a river bar in the Krzycki Rift. The park in Trzebiany attracts numerous visitors and is a special favourite of young couples who take souvenir photographs against its background. Once a year, at the beginning of December, a cross country race is arranged for children under the motto: “running amidst historical monuments”.