Puławy

It seemed an inordinate amount of time doing the every day things this morning. Taking onboard fresh water, diesel, refilling the gas cylinders and buying more general supplies all took time. 

The Palace of the Czartoryskich. 

Puławy was almost completely destroyed during the WWII but like so many other Polish and German towns reconstruction have given these centres a new lease of life. The main site worth visiting was the Pałac Czartoryskich, the family estate of the powerful aristocratic family. This Polish dynasty made their family base in Puławy in the early 1730s, especially Prince  Adam Czarytoryski and his wife Izabela. They were great patrons of the arts and gathered together a very notable art collection. With the partition of Poland in the middle of the 1700s their son had to flee Poland and later the art collection followed him. Much later it was returned to Poland and is now housed in a museum in Krakow. 

Entrance to the palace. 

Copies from the original art collection. 

Painting of Izabela Czartoryski. 

An interesting Australian connection: the sabre and image-plate of Tadeusz Kościuszko. 

The setting of the palace provides a balance to the rest of the city which is very much an industrial city with key chemical industries  forming the basis of the economy. Today it is the worlds largest producer of melamine. 

 

Delightful park surrounding the palace. 

With some interesting structures in the park. 

Later in the afternoon we traveled a few kilometres to the village of Gołab to visit the 17th century church and here we decided to stay for the rest of the afternoon and night. The village is on the Vistula River. It was here that the Polish army defeated the Swedes in 1672!

Church of St Florin and St Catherine.