Zamoyski Museum in Kozłówka

Practical info

What to expect

Kozłówka is a late Baroque aristocratic residence in the countryside of eastern Poland, built around 1742 for the Bieliński family to a design probably by Józef Fontana. Aleksander Zamoyski bought it in 1799, and in 1903 Tsar Nicholas II created an entailed Zamoyski estate here. What visitors see today is largely the work of Count Konstanty Zamoyski, who remodelled and extended the complex between 1897 and 1914. The museum stresses that the rooms kept their authentic Second Empire decoration from the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, most of it left behind by the family, which makes Kozłówka one of the best preserved palace ensembles in Europe. The Europa Nostra Medal in 1998 and Monument of History status in 2007 confirmed that standing.

The palace route runs through the entrance hall and the ceremonial staircase up to the first-floor apartments: the Red Drawing Room, the White Drawing Room known as the Tapestry Room, the studies and bedrooms of Counts Konstanty and Adam, the Exotic Room, a Baroque dining room and a library of some 6,700 volumes including 572 early printed books. Separate tickets cover the palace chapel, modelled on the royal chapel at Versailles and holding a marble replica of the tomb of Zofia Zamoyska; the adjoining display on Father Stefan Wyszyński, the future primate of Poland, who stayed here in 1940-1941; and the Carriage House arranged in 2002.

The other half of Kozłówka is the Socialist Realism Art Gallery, opened in 1994 as the first of its kind in Poland and in Europe. The collection reached the estate through the Central Museum Depot that operated here from 1955 to 1977 and runs to almost two and a half thousand works by more than seven hundred artists, of which roughly ten per cent is shown, including pieces by Alina Szapocznikow and Tymon Niesiołowski. Around it sit propaganda posters, Polish coins and banknotes issued between 1944 and 1997, a soundtrack of period music and newsreel excerpts, and an outdoor line-up of communist-era monuments taken down in Polish towns, among them Lenin from Poronin and Bolesław Bierut from Lublin.

Tips

The palace is seen in groups of up to 25 people accompanied by a member of staff, with a recorded commentary, and the tour takes about 50 minutes. Daily visitor limits apply for conservation reasons, so in high summer afternoon entry can sell out. A standard palace ticket costs 60 PLN, a concession 40 PLN and a 60+ ticket 50 PLN. On Tuesdays the palace is free, but tickets cannot be booked: they are handed out at the desk on the day in order of arrival and the number is capped. Every other part of the complex is priced separately, for instance 22 PLN for the Socialist Realism gallery and 17 PLN for the Carriage House, while a combined pass to all open exhibitions is 80 PLN standard and 60 PLN concession.

Bookings are taken Tuesday to Friday from 10:00 to 15:00 on +48 81 852 83 10, by e-mail and online; the ticket desk works 9:30 to 16:00. The recorded commentary also runs in English, German, Spanish and Ukrainian, but only for organised groups; a live foreign-language guide costs 400 PLN per group on top of the palace ticket. Access is limited: 33 steps lead to the first floor and staff cannot help carry wheelchairs up, though a wheelchair is kept in the palace. The museum closes on Mondays, on 1 and 11 November, at Easter and on Corpus Christi. The park stays open from 9:00 until dusk.

Getting there

The address is Kozłówka 3, 21-132 Kamionka, a village roughly 40 kilometres north of Lublin, near the small town of Lubartów in the Lublin region of eastern Poland. Coming by car is the natural option: the museum runs a paid car park charging a one-off 15 PLN for cars and motorcycles, 50 PLN for coaches and minibuses and 60 PLN for campervans staying overnight. The museum’s own site names no bus or rail connection, so check public transport before setting out. A bistro and a souvenir shop operate on site.

Nearby museums

Kozłówka pairs naturally with the region’s other great houses. The Czartoryski Museum in Puławy is the second major magnate seat of the Lublin region, while the August Zamoyski Museum in Jabłoń follows the same family into twentieth-century sculpture. Driving out from the city, Lublin Castle sits on the way.