The text describes Brzeżany, which was granted the Magdeburg Law by Sigismund I in 1530 thanks to Mikołaj of Sieniawa. The following part briefly introduces the history of this town and the question of the authorities who were to administer the place. The Sieniawski family was responsible for the foundation of the parish in 1600, the Bernardine Fathers' monastery and church, and the issue of the castle itself. After the family died out, the estate passed to the Czartoryski family. The last part of the text describes mainly issues connected with the Sieniawski castle (Source: "Ziemia. Tygodnik Krajoznawczy Ilustrowany', Warsaw 1913, no. 13, pp. 7-10, after: Wielkopolska Biblioteka Cyfrowa).

A modernised reading of the text.

Brzeżany

Famous, more famous than today, Brzeżany must once have been in Poland, if Słowacki, without seeing it with his own eyes, did not hesitate to say in "Jan Bielecki" that "the Lord of Brzeżany lives in wonderful surroundings". If we are talking about the qualities with which nature has so generously endowed the town, then no one can deny the poet's saying. Nature has been generous to this corner of the Zlaté Lípa river, and man has also contributed a little according to his own strength. He even added quite a bit, as he was able to match his many handiworks with the beauty of the magnificent surroundings, enchanting in their alluring appearance and harmonised diversity. The beauty of the castle consisted of both the waves of the sizeable river and the deep blue waters of the lake - all this in the wonderful setting of a green thicket, which like a crown embraced the lofty hills and vast expanses. Brzeżany is like a foretaste of Podolia proper. And therein lies the secret of the charm of this wonderful area. The beauty of nature probably played no small part in the history of the town, which, not situated on any major road, could just as easily have found itself a few miles away. The defensibility of the place, as well as its charming location, must have prompted the royal courtier, Mikolaj from Sieniawa, to ask Sigismund I for permission to change his hereditary village of Brzeżany into a town under Magdeburg Law in 1550. Although the new town did not gain a significant position or a prominent place in the Ruthenian lands, it had to play a great role as a fortress, a key to the Pokuttyan lands, which it often defended from the enemy's advance. Brzeżany was a centre of culture, trade and industry only for its immediate surroundings - it was under the protective wings of the fortress that the city developed most in terms of trade, thanks to the Armenians, who were born merchants. The first mention of them is found in the council books of 1681 and in the inventory of the Brzeżan key of 1682. At that time, within the city walls, there were 153 houses of Polish and Ruthenian burghers, 10 Armenian and 55 Jewish, and 20 manors of nobility. More Armenians seem to have arrived only around 1710, when a church was built and a parish established. Thus, four nationalities, through their toil and work, contributed to the history of the town, which remained for centuries under the aegis of the illustrious Sieniawski family. And the whole history of Brzeżany is in fact the history of that illustrious family which provided the homeland with so many brave men. And what Brzeżany owes to her is evidenced by the outstanding traces and remnants of her handiwork and endeavours that can be found almost everywhere to this day, in spite of the saddest passages and the time that destroyed everything. In a word, the history of Brzeżany is the history of the Sieniawski family. Almost everything interesting that the town possesses today is inextricably linked with the name of its former mighty patrons. Coats of arms and inscriptions proclaim their fame for the mighty castle, the marvellous castle chapel, the splendid marble tombs, the magnificent parish church, and everything else worthy of note in the town. When they were gone, life turned out differently in the charming corner by the Zlatá Lipa River. After the death of the last of the Sieniawski family, Adam Hieronim († 1726), his daughter Zofia, widow of Denhoff, bequeathed all the Sieniawski estates, including the Brześć castle, to the Czartoryski family, having married Prince August Czartoryski. With their daughter Elisabeth, they passed to the Lubomirskis, and in the next generation to the Potockis, in whose possession they have remained to this day. Each of the town's heirs contributed to beautifying the town, enhancing its splendour and defences, and filling its gaps. And thanks to this, in a small town like Brzeżany (with a population of around 15 000), we find so many relatively impressive and even splendid monuments. There is a castle not in ruins, a castle church with splendid monuments in Lesnicky, a Basilian monastery in Krasnopuszcha, an ancient church with sarcophagi, a parish church from 1600, a Bernardine monastery and church, an Armenian church and a Low Church. In addition, there are several other monuments in the immediate vicinity, such as, according to folk tradition, the larch church in Buszcza mentioned in "Jan Bielecki", and many others. In a series of individual descriptions, we will try to acquaint readers with the most interesting of these monuments, starting with the most impressive one, namely the castle, now devoid of its former defensive facilities, but not badly preserved. In fact, it deserves the attention of lovers of our homeland's past for many reasons. The same Mikolaj Sieniawski, who in 1550 obtained permission from King Sigismund I to change the village of Brzeżany into a town under the German law, proceeded to fortify it by erecting a massive stone castle on an island flanked by two arms of the Zlota Lipa River. The plaque carved in stone and visible today above the gate - once the main one, but now walled up - tells posterity that "the noble Lord, Mikolaj Sieniawski, Voivode of Ruthenia, Field Hetman, then of Halicz, Kolomyia, etc., starosta, built this castle of stone at his own expense and expense for the glory of Almighty God and for the defence of faithful Christians in the year 1554". Thus, soon after its founding, the town gained the most important basis and assurance of its successful development, defended by mighty walls, bastions, ramparts and moats, carefully maintained for centuries and supplemented as necessary. The founder was wise to start as soon as possible on this great work, which was to be the most important of all, and which was to provide a firm foundation for a construction of great proportions. He wanted the Brzeźno castle to be a magnificent seat, but also an impregnable defence against even the most numerous enemy. These intentions were crowned with success, and the Sieniawski's castle was rightly counted among the most beautiful and most defensible in Russia.We owe an interesting description of the castle to the famous traveller through the Polish lands, the Frisian Cleric Werdum, who says the following about it (in 1672). "The castle is now built in a quadrangle (rampart and ramparts) of stone blocks over three floors. On each floor it has a multitude of beautiful rooms, while on the third floor there is an openwork gallery around the ad courtyard with graceful columns of grey stone, very well made. The lord, the crown ensign (Mikołaj Hieronim Sieniawski) had the castle decorated and repaired more and more every day. In one corner of the castle square, the castle chapel presents a beautiful view. In it are very magnificent marble tombs with life-size statues. Six or seven of his ancestors lie buried in them. The whole building, especially the outer walls of the castle, are very strong and thick, but with many and large windows. The castle and the spacious vestibule are surrounded by a wide moat and ramparts made of earth in the shape of an elongated quadrilateral, built according to the present method (with bastions at the corners). They were still being worked on every day. The castle's armoury was particularly famous under Mikolaj Sieniawski, who was said to have had such an abundance of weapons that four regiments could have been armed. It was also during his lifetime that the castle and the town reached the height of their glory. To his valour the homeland owed numerous victories, glorified in numerous constitutions. For example, the constitution of 1676 states: "The Republic of Poland has experienced that the protection of borderland fortresses restrains the momentum of enemy forces and brings numerous benefits to the state; wishing to think of ways to secure them, we entrust the care of borderland fortresses to hetmans, having in mind the fortress of Brzeżany, erected at his own expense and conserved from his own coffers, which has so far saved the Pokuttyan countries from their last destruction". Well maintained, the castle lasted for centuries, living a glorious life to the very end of the Republic. An excellent map of Brzeżany drawn up in 1755 by Captain de Pirch gives an idea of its appearance in the middle of the 18th century, from which a detailed plan of the castle with the entire fortress was first published by Dr Al. Czołowski, an outstanding expert on our old fortresses and castles. The plan is accompanied by short explanatory notes, mentioning the "walled" pentagonal bastion, the "golden rooms of Her Majesty's Residence, the rooms of Her Majesty's Ex-Regent (Prince Aug. Czartoryski, at that time already the owner of Brzeżany), new rooms "behind the church on the broad wall", a fortress "which the ramparts are forming", a new battery, a gunpowder storehouse, and so on. These things were still looked at at the end of the 18th century, as evidenced by the inventory of the castle drawn up in 1762 by Daszkiewicz, preserved in the manuscripts of the Ossoliński Library and published in "Sprawozdaniach do badania histori sztuki" (Kraków, vol. V). In a way, it gives an idea of the splendid former state of affairs, of which perhaps only bare walls remain and no trace of those chambers covered with crimson and green brocades, decorated with portraits, religious paintings and stuccowork. Magnificent furniture, marble tables; there was also a rich library and a family archive. On the first floor were the rooms, called 'Vienna' after the painting of the Battle of Vienna on the ceiling. Downstairs there was a room with the Battle of Žuravė on the plafond and a great hall with 48 portraits of Polish kings. The second floor was occupied by the "golden" rooms, decorated with the heads of famous men of woodcarving and paintings of mythological content. The armoury in the tower depicted the funeral of Mikolaj Sieniawski, Hetman of the Crown, who was accompanied by Zygmunt August among the more important Polish lords as he led his body out of Lublin. The armoury itself was stocked with 48 cannons, 117 hackneys, hundreds of flintlocks, rifles, costly janissaries, muskets, muskets, fusiliers, pistols, sharpshooters, thousands of coursers, grenades, iron balls, spearheads, bombs and other implements of war. Mention should also be made of the monks, the Bartolomites, who lived above the castle gate. Their duty was to keep the castle church and the Sieniawski graves therein in order. They were replaced by Fr. Charity, until over time the poorhouse was left without any care. The castle was abandoned, and with it everything around it. The walls began to crumble, especially the chapel, which was used as a military storehouse and junkyard, disregarding the invaluable works of art it contained. The abandoned walls began to deteriorate more and more and would certainly have come to a complete ruin had they not come to their senses in time and thought of a remedy. The ramparts and moats were removed in the middle of the 19th century, the northern part of the chateau was turned into a brewery, while another part was rented out as military barracks: the walls now house a folk weaving school instead of barracks. The former splendour has literally gone and no trace remains, and much gratitude is due to the people whose efforts succeeded in putting an end to the ruin that was inevitably threatening, especially the beautiful chapel in the castle courtyard. At the expense of Prince Stanisław Potocki, the ruined chapel with its monuments, sarcophagi, frescoes and stuccowork was restored in 1878 and brought back to its former glory. The castle was then taken care of by restorers, thanks to which it is one of the best preserved in the country, although it would be in vain to search within its walls for those "golden" and "Viennese" crimson-covered chambers decorated with paintings and stucco. With the fame of the Sieniawski family, the works of their hands and their efforts began to decline. In the first half of the last century, during Count Al Potocki's inheritance, all the ornaments and paintings were destroyed, some of them were taken to Paradise near Brzeżany, and the rest dispersed in all directions. This is how the Brzeżany castle used to be and how it looks today. The chapel erected in the castle's courtyard, which is rightly compared to the outstanding monuments of Krakow, will be described in the next article.