The text recalls Brzeżany and its history linked to Poland, described on the 400th anniversary of the city's foundation. The issues of the fate intertwined with the Sieniawski family h. Leliwa are described. Further on, the monuments characteristic of the town are also described. The text is accompanied by numerous photographs illustrating Brzeżany (Source: "Ziemia. Tygodnik Krajoznawczy Ilustrowany" Warsaw 1930, no. 5, pp. 84-92, after: Wielkopolska Biblioteka Cyfrowa).

A modernised reading of the text

The historical role of Brzeżany.

On the 400th anniversary of the founding of the city (1530-1930) Every settlement, in whatever country it is situated, has its own historical "face", which distinguishes it from other settlements. This "face" should be understood as a certain sum of historical reminiscences, which appear in the mind of an enlightened person at the mention of this or that settlement. For some settlements, their "face" is exceptionally clear and, as it were, immediately striking, while for others it is less clear. For example, when Buczacz is mentioned, who will not immediately recall the unfortunate Treaty of Buczacz from the times of Michał Wiśniowiecki?

It is such a powerful event that it comes to the forefront in the history of this city, overshadowing and in a way overwhelming many other incidents from the past. There are many similar examples; the victory of Jan Tarnowski fulfils the same role for Oberzhin, the famous defence of Sobieski for Podhajce, the confederation against Russia for Bar and so on. Brzeżany does not belong to this type of settlement; there is no single event in its history that would completely overshadow the others with its publicity, so the historical "face" of this town cannot be characterised by such clarity and transparency as in the case of other settlements; it can only be recognised after closer examination.

The fate of Brzeżany, or rather the fate of its greatness and splendour, was most closely intertwined with the history of its long-lasting owners, the Sieniawski family of the Leliwa coat of arms; other aristocratic families which ruled in Brzeżany after the Sieniawski family, either stayed here for too short a time, or did almost nothing to make the city remember with particular gratitude. The Sieniawski family lived in Brzeżany in the 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries (the male line died out in 1726). The Sieniawski family came to the Czerwieńskie Land from Podolia, and re-emerged there as exiles from Greater Poland.

According to Nieciecki, Rafał, son of the castellan of Nakło, Dymitr, married an heiress of Sieniawa (situated in Podolia, in the district of Latyczów, now Lityń), and from that place began to be called Sieniawski. This took place somewhere in the first half of the 15th century. The awareness of the Wielkopolska origin never disappeared; it was echoed by the nickname "from Granów" (today in the Grodzisk district of the Poznań Voivodship), constantly used by the Sieniawski family in their surname. When and under what circumstances Brzeżany came into their ownership has not yet been revealed; it was probably brought as a dowry by Hieronim's (Rafał's son) wife, Cebrowska. Brzeżany was, of course, still a village at that time.

It was not until Hieronim's son, Mikolaj, an ensign and royal courtier at the time, obtained a privilege from Sigismund I the Old, which raised the village to the dignity of a town. This happened on 19 March 1530. This important date marks the beginning of a period of great prosperity and fame in the history of Brzeżany. Seven generations of the Sieniawski family ruled Brzeżany from that time on, producing a large number of men of great merit for the Republic.

In short, it can be said that, with the exception of the last representative of the family, the Castellan of Kraków and Hetman of the Crown Estate, Adam Mikołaj (+1726), who had already made deals with Moscow (Peter V.), and who, dreaming of the throne for himself, fought vigorously and vigorously in the notorious Saxon times, no other member of the Sieniawski family can be seriously accused of any attitude to state life; on the contrary, they deserve much praise. In this respect, they are very well characterised by the words of King Zygmunt III Waza who, when appointing Adam Hieronim Sieniawski as King's Chamberlain for his merits, did not take the oath required in such a case, saying:

"It is not necessary, we are well aware of the Sieniawski's loyalty to his lords".

However, Sieniawski did not betray the King's trust; during Zebrzydowski's rebellion he stood by him faithfully, contributing in no small measure to the King's victory over the rebels. The Sieniawski family's public activity encompassed a variety of areas, but to omit others, let us at least mention the most notorious and indefatigable services they rendered in the defence of the south-eastern borderlands.

These men were characterised by an incredible temperament and warlike spirit, and sacrificed their property and lives in defence of the borders against foreign attackers. Thus Brzeżany became famous in their time as a nest of first-class knights. Here are the most important of them: the town's founder, Mikolaj of Sieniawa (+1569), a highly meritorious Voivode of Ruthenia and Great Hetman of the Crown, won twelve battles against Wallachia and the Tatars (and only lost two), securing for Poland the bounty of the Wallachian hospodar; his tombstone inscription assures that

"Ruthenia was safe when this voivode kept watch".

His sons Hieronim (the Ruthenian Voivode) and Mikołaj (the Polish Crown Hetman), seasoned in their father's trade, were also prominent in battle; they had to fight under Batory's command against Moscow. Hieronim's grandson, Adam Hieronim (+1619), showed outstanding qualities not only as a knight but also as a man.

As a knight, he defeated the Tartars and took part in Hetman Zamoyski's Maltese expedition; as a man, despite the considerable services he rendered to the King, he did not seek or desire eminence, believing that it should be a reward for merit, not an incentive to it; so he contented himself with the lowly (for him) office of Crown Chamberlain. Sigismund III Vasa showed great respect for him, and also great insight, when, on his nomination for the office of chamberlain, he deemed the oath of allegiance - as mentioned above - superfluous. Further down the line, Adam Hieronim's sons Mikołaj (chamberlain) and Prokop (ensign) were not inferior in fame to their forebears. The two of them, not counting minor battles (with the Tartars), took part at the head of their own hussar unit in the Chocim campaign (1621) and contributed in no small measure to its successful outcome. Unfortunately, both died at a relatively young age.

Prokop's only son, Hieronim Adam (Polish Crown Writer), was again an outstanding knight. At Korsun (1648) he was taken prisoner by the Tartars together with the hetman; ransomed soon, he took part in the battle of Piławiec, where he was the last to leave the field; he finally survived the siege of Zbaraż, but at the same time contracted a fatal illness there and a few months after escaping from the liberated fortress he died (1650). His son was the highly talented and meritorious warrior, Polish Crown Hetman Mikołaj Hieronim; he was the last of the Sieniawski family to gain an honourable name in history. He did so many military deeds that it is impossible to mention them all.

With a splendid diversion at Bar, he held back Doroszenko's Cossacks and Tatars, and prevented them from joining the Turkish army, thus enabling Jan Sobieski to achieve a great victory at Chocim (1673); during a long wrestling campaign with the Turks and Tatars, to which the Battle of Chocim was a prelude, he gave the aggressors a severe beating; finally, he took part in the Vienna campaign and commanded the left wing in the memorable September battle (1683). It was he who made an affront to Emperor Leopold I for not tipping his hat to the Polish generals and colonels who greeted him.

On his return home, he died from the hardships of war in Lubovla in Spiš, from where he was transported and ceremonially buried in Brzeżany. Such is the post of the incomparable Brzeżany knights. If one takes into account the whole of the Sieniawski family's public activity, apart from their military endeavours, one is bound to conclude that - apart from the last representative of the family, who was not the worst by any means - there is hardly another family among the Polish noble families to whom so few accusations could be levelled, and so much praise could not be spared.

Perhaps our history would have taken a different course if we had had among the "royals" more of the same ilk as the Sieniawskis? Obviously, such keen knights had to have a stronghold of some sort; without it, they could not have done anything in the constantly threatened borderlands. The town's founder, Mikolaj of Sieniawa, was aware of this and was the first to set to work; in the fork of Zlatá Lípa, in a hard-to-reach location, he built a magnificent castle, the first construction of which was completed in 1554.

With the progress of the art of war, it was later reconstructed several times, but as a fortress it always stood up to the task and rendered invaluable services to the state: the constitution of 1676 clearly stated that the Brzeżańska and Stanislawowska fortresses "stopped those countries from their last destruction". The pride of Brzeż Castle is that it was never taken by force by the enemy, was once taken by treachery by Cossacks, and was once voluntarily handed over to the Swedes (in December 1655). The Austrian government cancelled it as a fortress between 1809 and 1812, and today there is hardly a trace of its former defences. I will not describe the splendour and magnificence of the castle's interior, the lavish parties and balls that took place there.

This aspect of the castle's past found its way into literature, being a favourite theme of poets ("Jan Bielecki" by J. Słowacki) and novelists ("Sodalis Marianus" by Z. Kaczkowski). The noble mission of the Brzeżany castle at the endangered borderlands of the Republic, and above all the heroism of its owners, is the first clear feature in the historical "face" of Brzeżany. There are other features as well. The Sieniawski family, who showed so many virtues as warriors, were also astonished by other, very different tastes: they were great lovers of art and its pioneers in their homeland. In both areas, chivalry and art, they acted with great vigour: while they spared no blood or effort on the battlefield, they were indifferent to the financial side of their artistic endeavours. Their tastes were expressed in many different ways.

Above all, they built a great deal; numerous churches, monasteries and castles owed their creation to them. Of course, we are only interested in the monuments of art concentrated in Brzeżany itself. First and foremost is the Sieniawski's eternal resting place, the castle chapel. Rebuilt and extended several times, today the chapel displays a whole mixture of styles, from Gothic (in the oldest part) through Renaissance and Baroque to Rococo.

Almost every generation of the Sieniawski family added and embellished something to the chapel, and since they adhered strictly to the style in force at the time, the result was such a variety. Particularly noteworthy in the chapel is the dome, decorated in the Baroque style with the figures of the eight patron saints of the Sieniawski family placed in splendidly decorated fields. The paintings above the choir are also striking, showing the transition from Baroque to Rococo style. However, the most valuable artistic legacy of the Sieniawski family are the tombstones and sarcophagi of individual members of their family, housed in this very chapel.

There are five tombstones in all: 1) that of Anna Sieniawska, née Maciejowska; 2) a double monument to Mikołaj, the town's founder, and his son Hieronim (his third wife was the aforementioned Anna); 3) Jan, Mikołaj's youngest son; 4) Adam Hieronim, the crown chamberlain; and finally 5) a triple monument to his three sons: Mikołaj, Aleksander and Prokop. The monument to Adam Hieronim is the most magnificent, a true royal tombstone, while the most modest is the oldest monument to Anna of M. Sieniawska. The first three monuments were created towards the end of the 16th century, the other two in the first half of the 17th century. According to their best expert, Wł. Łoziński, the author of the first three sculptures was the Lviv artist Henryk Horst, while the two later ones were created by the Lviv sculptor Jan Pfister (a native of Wrocław).

The sculptures were made of purely domestic material, namely alabaster and black and red Transnistrian marble. On whose commission were the artists working? Well, the initiative was given by various members of the Sieniawski family; in two cases (items 2 and 4) widows had their tombstones erected for their deceased husbands, once (1) by a husband for his deceased wife, once (3) by a daughter for her father, and once (5) by a mother for her sons. The two monuments that Pfister made were on the initiative of Adam Jerome's widow and unfortunate mother, who had lost three sons prematurely, Catherine of Sztemberg Kostchanka; she was one of the noblest Polish women of her time.

In addition to the monumental tombstones, there are, as far as we know, several (4) metal (zinc) sarcophagi in which the coffins with the corpses were placed. All the sarcophagi were designed by J. Pfister and probably cast in the Lviv Frankish manufactory. The most magnificent sarcophagus is the one with a beautiful figure of a lying knight - unknown: Adam Hieronim or his son Prokop. As far as the artistic value of the monuments in question is concerned, it should be noted from the outset that they are not all of the same level; on the contrary, there is a significant difference between them. The tombstones of Anna S. and Jan S. are of average value, the double tombstone of Nicolaus and Hieronim is far superior, but even this does not testify to the extraordinary talent of its master.

Only Pfister's sculptures are works of great talent and high technical excellence. While the triple sarcophagus of the sons of Katharina Kostchanka could be criticised, the Adam Jerome monument is so beautiful that no European town, famous for this kind of sculpture, would be ashamed of it. In any case, it is one of the most beautiful monuments of art in pre-partition Poland. Another circumstance must be taken into account when evaluating the Brzeżany monuments. Poland was famous for its artistry at the time of the Sigismunds and at the end of its existence, during the reign of King St. August Poniatowski. However, the sculptures from Brzeżany do not belong to any of these eras, and especially the most beautiful ones were created in the artistically poor 17th century.

All the more gratitude to the Sieniawski family for managing to keep their art at the very top even in such a barren century. The Sieniawski family may have been proud of their work, but Poland can be no less proud that in these tough warriors it had such distinguished patrons of the arts. Work on the aforementioned works of art obviously took many years. If one bears in mind that the Sieniawski's artistic activity did not end with the erection of the gravestones, for at the same time they were building several churches (the parish church in Brzeżany and the parish church in the nearby town of Bszcz), then it is fair to say that throughout this time Brzeżany has seemingly become a centre of art.

Numerous masters came to live here and created their works. Our borderland town was teeming with artistic brothers. We know quite well about one of them, the most outstanding of all, Jan Pfister, who lived in Brzeżany for a long time and even had his own tenement house here; a source also calls him sculptor civis Brzeżanensis (sculptor, Brzeżan burgher). And he did not only work for Brzeżany; perhaps even the Ostrogski monument from Tarnów, a work by this very master, and at the same time one of the masterpieces so few in our lands, was created (Łoziński's guess) in Brzeżany. It is also a second feature in the historical "face" of this city. At this point, however, while joyfully recalling such a beautiful past, it is impossible to avoid a very unpleasant bump in the road.

The issue we are about to touch upon has been repeatedly raised in diaries and works related to the history of Brzeżany. Namely, what turns these invaluable monuments have taken in later times, and what is their present state? After the Sieniawski family died out, the castle was no longer permanently inhabited. A seemingly indifferent matter, yet this fact had a fatal impact on the future of the building, as people are not used to caring too much about things they do not need. It is true that this is a magnificent historical castle, and not some worthless object, but unfortunately we have always felt the difference too little, and understood too little about historical monuments.

Today we are reaping the rewards of our ignorance, as we are beginning to realise just how poorly we are in terms of historical relics. Things were not too bad in Brzeżany throughout the 18th century, and only became bad when the town passed into the ownership of the Potockis. It was given to the Potockis by Aleksandra Lubomirska, who married Stanisław Kostka Potocki, an eminent statesman from the times of the collapse of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Napoleonic era and the Congress Kingdom. Beginning with them, three generations of the Potocki family passed through the history of Brzeżany: Stanisław Kostka's (and Aleksandra's) son Aleksander, his descendant Stanisław, and finally the present owner of Brzeżany and Stanisław's son, Jakób.

Most of the Potockis' estate was under Russian annexation (hence the titles of horsemen and protectors of the Russian court held by the Brzeżany owners), so the remote Brzeżany castle was quite unnecessary for them and was treated in a lowly manner from the very beginning. As it was uninhabited, they decided to put it to some "useful" use. They built a brewery in one wing and rented the rest as barracks for the Austrian army! Of course, such "respect" for national monuments may today provoke righteous indignation, but let us not cast stones of condemnation prematurely, when we consider that even the Wawel Castle was for a long time a barracks for Austrian troops, the matter will appear in a different light, and the Potockis' deed will not so much be justified as understood.

It was simply: sui generis - "the spirit of the times". Meanwhile, another thing happened in Brzeżany, one hundred times worse than that, which no one can now understand. The Potockis did not get enough income from the castle, so they decided to draw it also from the chapel overflowing with masterpieces. And this is where we learn a terrible thing. Namely, they rented the chapel as a vodka storehouse to Jews, and at the same time broke into the tombs, smashed up the coffins in order to search them and steal the last belongings of the resting deceased.

So carbels, so cufflinks, so gold jewellery buttons on the kontusz, so coat-of-arms signets, so silver horseshoes, so even silver horseshoes - they were all confounded, stolen and sold", writes Kornel Ujejski in "Listy spod Lviv" (Leipzig 1861, p. 30). And it didn't stop there; of the "paintings for which the Sieniawski family sometimes paid several thousand ducats, the smaller ones were dismantled and stolen, and the larger canvases were cut into sacks on the orders of the officialdom", (J. Czernecki, Brzeżany, Lviv 1905, p. 31). All this happened during the reign of Alexander Count Potocki, a Knight of the Orders of the White Eagle and St Stanislaus, and Grand Horseman of the Russian court!

This is confirmed by other contemporary voices (e.g. Br. Zamorski, Kronika Pomorzanska, Lviv 1867, pp. 99-100), the only difference being that they mention sacks of hops and wool, rather than vodka, as storage items. How this economy compromised us in the opinion of foreigners can be seen from at least one example. Here is the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand d'Este, who visited Brzeżany in the early years of the last century, expressed himself about the chapel as follows: "So many accumulated mementos of art and history as in this chapel can hardly be found anywhere, but such barbaric defacement and destruction of them - only in Brzeżany". This desecration of the consecrated house of God, made all the more strange by the fact that it was perpetrated by people who always claim to be ultra-religious, moved society to the core and provoked extremely sharp criticism and protests.

The Potockis began to be called names, for example that they were "miserable sons, worse than Muscovites and Tartars" (Zamorski O. C., p. 100), and so on. For a long time this had no effect, and it was only in 1878 that the father of the present owner, Stanislaw Potocki, had the chapel evacuated of Jewish goods and set about restoring it. The work was carried out under the direction of Leonardo Marconi, professor of sculpture and ornamentation at the Lviv Polytechnic. What could be done was done, but the chapel could not be fully restored to its original appearance.

Restoration involved only the chapel, while the castle remained a brewery and barracks until the outbreak of the world war. When the matter is considered calmly, there could hardly be a more classic example where people of the same class and similar cultural level could have acted in a more extreme manner: some build with reason and hard work, others destroy with dullness and ill-will. The Sieniawski and Potocki families in Brzeźno are like symbols of two actions, as distant in value from each other as fame is from dishonour....

But if only that were the end of it. What remains is the tragedy of the castle and the chapel today, for what the Potockis did not destroy (the brewery, the barracks), war grenades did. The castle is not yet in ruins, and can still be rescued, but in a few years' time it may crumble to ruins; the chapel and the art monuments it contains were also badly damaged during the war. However, the present owner of the castle does not feel obliged to restore these monuments, but wants to get rid of them as soon as possible. He is as indifferent to the Brzeżany castle as, for example, King Jan III's carpet, which he wanted to sell abroad, was indifferent to Branicki.

This is why he has no choice but to make a fervent appeal to the Government to intervene in this matter and save Poland's honour. Today we have so few monuments from the past, and the recent war has wreaked so much new havoc that we cannot afford to let even those monuments that can still be saved languish. Is there no way to force a magnate to give satisfaction to the Polish people for the terrible barbarity with which his family treated the magnificent castle and so many precious keepsakes in it? It is difficult to suppose that he has not seen how much foreign magnates, as well as some of our own, contribute to the preservation of historical monuments, in which case would it not make him think how unworthy his conduct is and how out of place is his stinginess? Let us return to more cheerful matters.

The cultural profile of the historical "face" of Brzeżany which we have become acquainted with in connection with the art in the Wieniawski residence would not be complete if we did not also mention the role of a completely different factor, namely the Brzeżany secondary school. It has nothing to do with the Wieniawski family, and it is perhaps the only important event in the Brzeżan chronicle that is not connected with this very family. The credit for this is due to Izabela Lubomirska, née Czartoryska, owner of the city at the beginning of the last century, who in 1805 relocated the secondary school from Zbaraż (where it had existed since 1789) to Brzeżany, donating to it permanent premises in the city hall and year-round fuel.

The school is one of the oldest in the former Austrian partition, and this year marks the 125th year of its existence. In 1905, the Gymnasium celebrated its centenary. A large number of former pupils, from the youngest to the most senior, came to pay tribute to their Alma Mater. The celebration was indeed an impressive display, leaving participants with indelible memories. The celebration was honoured with the publication of a commemorative book which, among other things, contained the chronicle of the establishment and a list of all the pupils who had been enrolled at the grammar school since its inception.

Having fulfilled its noble mission for so long, and having educated a multitude of enlightened and useful staff, the Brzeżan Gymnasium won a very prominent place in the history of Polish education. This is why the Brześć Gymnasium deserves a separate mention in the assessment of the city's cultural role. In order to give a fuller picture of the historical "face" of Brzeżany, I have yet to mention its last feature: the Armenians. The deplorable conditions in their homeland, the pressure from their neighbours, and finally the destruction of independent Armenia, were the reasons that forced these people to emigrate en masse several times and seek conditions outside their homeland.

Not many of them came to Poland, and those who did came settled only in the south-eastern lands of the Republic, from where they had the closest access to their homeland and the most favourable conditions for trade with Asia. They did not settle in a dense mass, but were scattered in islands in various directions; one such concentration was in Brzeżany. It has not yet been established when the first settlers arrived, but there seems to be no doubt that they could have been here already in the 15th century, since so many of them came to the Chernivtsi region at that time. In the Brześć sources (council books) we come across them only in the second half of the 17th century. And it was no coincidence that they took a liking to the town.

Armenians were primarily a merchant element. In the Polish state, suffering from a catastrophic shortage of middle-class people, they had good living conditions; it fell to them to fill the gap, or even had to. Merchants - as is well known - mainly need peace and security for their development. As far as the first of these conditions was concerned.