The article takes a closer look at the history of Podhorce and the chapel there. Podhorce was owned by the Koniecpolski family. The heir to the area was Stanisław Koniecpolski, Great Hetman of the Crown and castellan of Krakow, on whose initiative the old castle was converted into a palace. It later passed into the hands of Jakub Sobieski, and was inherited by the Rzewuski family. (Source: Tygodnik Illustrowany, Warsaw 1862, T:5, p. 86., after: Digital Library of the University of Łódź).

A modernised reading of the text.

Description of Podhorce, the chapel and the castle.

Galicia is little known to the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Poland, although our fathers knew it well, because its eastern part, the Red Ruthenia, was the scene of constant battles with the Tartars, to which armed noblemen from all corners of Poland converged. It is a beautiful and blessed country: it does not bore the traveller's eye with the uniformity of its vast plains, nor with its sad marshes or sea of sands, because this part of former Poland, based on the Carpathian range, is more mountainous, and only the south-eastern sides, fertile, are covered with plains.

Numerous branches of high hills run from the Carpathian Mountains; namely the mountain pass stretching from Sącz through Jasło, Sanok, Tambor, Stryi to Stanislavov and Kolomyia, offers a multitude of charming views. Galicia is also rich in monuments to our past. This is where the family nests of the Sobieski, Żółkiewski, Daniłłowicz, Mniszech, Tarnowski, Tarłów and Koniecpolski families were located. The last of these families owned Podhorce in the early 17th century, which today belongs to the Rzewuskis.

At the top of a range of hills between Złoczów and Brody stood the defensive Podhoretski castle, which served as a shelter for the surrounding gentry in the event of an unexpected Tartar attack. The heir to this estate at the time was Stanisław Koniecpolski, Great Hetman of the Crown and castellan of Krakow. He did not like his grandparents' old castle and had it converted into a magnificent palace, decorated with statues and water features and surrounded by a beautiful garden. The interior of the castle is just as beautiful, as in addition to a great deal of stucco and gilding, masterfully crafted in the taste of the time, there are paintings of the old Italian and Flemish school, portraits of the Koniecpolski family and several scenes from the history of the nation.

The armoury contains exquisite specimens of ancient armour: there are Swedish banners, Tartar and Swedish maces, Hussar armour with winged appendages, Hetman's maces, and rich rows for horses. The main peculiarity, however, is the marble table, brought here from Olesko, about which the following is written on the missal of the Hanske base in Podhorce: "John III, King of Poland, Europe's sun, the Ottoman moon's eclipse, the thunderbolt of the eastern countries, received his origin from the noble and ancient Sobieski family. His father, counting in his ancestors a great number of senators, was himself the first senator and castellan of Cracow in the kingdom.

His mother gave birth to him, descending from the aforementioned and ancient family of Żółkiewski, Crown Chancellor and later Great Hetman. He was born in the castle of Oleśko in 1624, one day in June, on the eve of the Holy Trinity, which mystery was always in special honour with him, and special escape and strange help in adventures. This John of this noble couple was the third son, and from the order of the kings of John he was also the third king. At the time of his birth, a strange adventure, inconceivable in its miracles, occurred. As soon as the infant was taken away, after being washed, he was laid on a marble table, which at that moment, as if torn by lightning, broke in two. A strange thing made those who were conscious of the situation sad, and the Reverend Father Siemiaszko, who was present at this silence, broke it with these words:

"One can see that this infant has received glory from the hand of the Almighty, which will have value in the whole of Christianity".

There is also an interesting manuscript of a description of the Vienna campaign in the rich Podhoretto book collection, not yet printed. Opposite the palace is the church shown in the engraving, built of stone, with a dome bearing some resemblance to St Peter's Basilica in Rome. The front and sides, standing on five steps of hewn timber, are surrounded by columns of Corinthian order. Above the façade, outside the triangular peristyle, stand statues of the Evangelists. The whole thing is so gracefully conceived and executed that a wanderer wonders where such a beautiful temple came from in this secluded corner of the country.

The garden surrounding the chateau rises into terraces on the slope of the mountain, at the foot of which springs a spring of living water, famous in the whole area. The view from the castle windows is magnificent and extends towards Lopatyn and Brody. In 1682 the Podhoretski castle passed from the Koniecpolskis to Jakub Sobieski, who bequeathed it to him; it was then inherited by the Rzewuski family. During Wacław Farys's lifetime Podhorce hosted many guests who came from far away to spend moments with this wise and hospitable man.

Today the castle is the property of Leon Rzewuski.Podhorce is a pearl of our historical monuments, it is a proud seat of our power and glory in eastern Galicia, it is an eagle's nest from where Jan III led hosts of the hussars famous in Europe against the Turk and the Tartar. After the disasters that befell Poland, after the devastation wreaked on our land, after our removal from the list of independent countries, we were left with just such precious pearls, such traditional monuments surrounded by a halo of sanctity, which everyone should familiarise themselves with.

Three centuries look down on us from the windows of this royal castle; but the old menacing warhorn or the merry hunting call have been replaced by silence and reverie, which has settled on the mossy battlements of the fortress walls and still fills the heart with fear and trembling. However, you will enter the courtyard unhindered: the castle bell will not ring, the drawbridge chains will not clang, the guards will not hold you back, nor will the frowning faces of the old knights look at you from the castle windows and ask who you are and with what news you have come....

The Koniecpolskis, Sobieskis, Rzewuskis, Sanguszkos, what great and untainted names in our history, what beautiful chivalrous characters! Among them are kings, archbishops, hetmans, a long line of voivodes and castellans, writers, scholars and poets, who not only defended the eastern borderlands of our homeland with arms, but also dealt victoriously with the enemy by writing, singing or writing serious works. The origins of Podhorzce date back to ancient times: it was already Jagiełło who granted the estates of Podhorce and Zahorce to Janusz Podhorecki.

Then for a long time we have no news about Podhorce. It was not until the first half of the 17th century that Podhorce passed into the hands of Stanisław Koniecpolski, who was praised by the Sejm for building a beautiful castle in Podhorce "for pleasure and a tasty rest after military toils and the Republic". Andrzej Morsztyn, who was alive at the time, again praises the goodness of Podhorce wine with such a poem:

"Tell me, brother, for thou hast visited the tastes
of liquors and drunk a beverage of many sorts
And, not wishing to embarrass the homeland,
Thou didst drink those wines which are given by the fertile
Brody land, where the pennants
Hetman hung, and good thought Podhorce began".

The beauty of Podhorce was a matter of concern to the voivode of Bełz, Jakób Sobieski, who wrote a laudatory "Song of Podhorce" in honour of his relative and warm friend, Koniecpolski. But it was also known to outsiders, and the German traveller Werdum enthuses in 1671 about the beautiful Podhora palace and its charming surroundings. The road from Zloczów to Podhorzec is already a very pleasant hiking trip; the undulating countryside, the ever-expanding vistas and the Voronnicky Mountain range turning grey in the distance, the constant change of forests and fields make the 17 km journey to the castle very pleasant. On the way, at 9km from Zloczów, lies the town of Sassów with its paper factory. This paper mill is not to be missed, especially as the owner, Mr Weiser, is very kind to visitors and instructs his subordinates to explain in detail how paper is made. After Sassow, the road continues to give the impression of a truly mountainous landscape, and it becomes quite arduous before Plesnisko in the forest.