Until World War II, Poland was dotted with great estates, great houses, and even greater barns. Here are some of them as they were in 1995.
Perhaps the best known of the old aristocratic estates was Nieborow, west of Warsaw and southeast of Lowicz. Confiscated from the Radziwill family after 1945, it became a museum. The mansard roof is a 20th century addition.
Inside, a tiled oven occupies a corner with an elegance that makes a fireplace seem uncouth.
Walewice, west of Lowicz. Once visited by Napoleon, it later belonged to a Grabinski family. By 1995 it was a state farm specializing in the production and sale of race horses.
Approach to yet another estate.
It's Kopuszewo, south of Poznan and northeast of Leszno. In 1995 it was an operating state farm, with offices in the mansion.
Orlovo, east of Torun. In the early 1930s the estate belonged to Count Slaski, fond of African safaris.
The main staircase.
An extraordinary barn at Orlovo; once a stable, by 1995 it was primarily a granary.
One of its horse stalls was occupied.
After 1945, housing was built for the workers on the state farm established at Orlovo.
One of several extraordinary barns near Goluchow, close to Kalisz.
An adjoining structure.
Dabrovica, east of Kracow, was the estate of Professor Jan Vlodek, who died at Sachsenhausen in 1940. The estate became an agricultural school. The house was redone, but this barn had been built for eternity.
