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The Commune of Brzeźnica
The commune of Brzeźnica is situated at a distance of 35 km from Oświęcim, 28 km from Krakow and 25 km from Wadowice. A part of its northern border runs along the Vistula River, or rather its former channel, from before the regulation. The surface area of the commune is 70 km2. The commune has approximately 10 thousand inhabitants and consists of 14 villages: Bęczyn, Brzezinka, Chrząstowice, Kopytówka, Kossowa, Łączany, Marcyporęba, Bachorowice, Nowe Dwory, Półwieś, Paszkówka, Sosnowice, Tłuczań and Wyźrał.
According to archaeological sources, the first settlements in the area existed already in the Neolithic period, and the documented historical origins date back to the Middle Ages. The major part of the territory belonged to the knights bearing the Radwan coat of arms, who guarded the west borderland of the Krakow Lands. Zygmunt Palczewski, the last owner of all Brzeźnica, in 1627 divided the village into two parts when selling it.
The lie of the land is varied; the northern part of the commune is flat, whereas the southern part is situated in the Wieliczka Foothills. The highest prominence is Draboż (435 m). Old manor houses in villages Brzeźnica, Kopytówka and Paszkówka and historic parks are popular tourist attractions. In the village of Łączany there is a dam on the Vistula River. Valuable sacred monuments include St Martin's Church in Marcyporęba and wooden churches in Tłuczań and Sosnowice.
The most famous monument in the area of the commune is a palace in Paszówka, erected in the late 19th c. by Leonard Wężyk and his wife, Ludwika, née Żeleńska, on the site of a former manor house. The neo-Gothic palace, built in the years 1875-70, was designed by famous Krakow architect Feliks Księżarski, who was also the creator of e.g. the building of Collegium Novum of the Jagiellonian University. According to his project a one-storey building was constructed, with an octagonal tower in the front housing a staircase, and a triangular risalit on the side of the garden - elements that add variety to the mass of the edifice. Below the first-storey windows, a decorative ceramic motif ornaments the exterior walls of the palace. The motif depicts human heads of ancient gods and heroes. Above the main entrance door, there is a carved shield with the coats of arms of the palace owners: the snake of the Wężyk family and the calf of the Żeleńkis.
The entrance to the palace leads through a stately hall, whose rib vault is supported by four stone pillars - two of them may still be seen today. From the hall there are passages to other rooms that once served typical utility purposes: kitchens, pantries, a laundry room, a drying room and servants' quarters. Wide stairs from the hall lead to the upper floor, where the proper living quarters were situated, with a sitting room, a dining room and a library.
In 1971, during extensive restoration and partial alteration of the building, another storey was added, which had an unfortunate effect on the appearance of the palace. The layout of the rooms was then changed, the main and garden stairs were altered and high chimneys were dismantled. Inside the palace, the woodwork and flooring were exchanged and tiled stoves dismantled.
A neo-Renaissance octagonal sitting room on the upper floor was redecorated and exhibited during the last conversion of the palace into a hotel and a conference centre. The room has well-preserved original ornamentation of the ceiling and walls and is called the Mirror Room. At present, the first floor and the second floor (which was added in the 1970s; a former attic) house hotel rooms and apartments.
The palace is surrounded by a historic park with beautiful avenues of hornbeams and lindens and some splendid oaks. The layout of the park is older than that of the palace, as it comprises an 18th century Baroque geometric composition. Paszkówka used to be famous for its fish ponds, which were said to be so abundant in fish that "in the State of Paszów, on every Friday of the year one may eat fish from a different pond".
Another noteworthy place is a hydroelectric power station in Łączany, which started operating on 4th June 2004, by a stage of fall on the Vistula River. To produce the 11,000 MWh of energy that is obtained from the Łączany power station, one would have to burn 6150 tonnes of hard coal, with a calorific value of 21,388 kJ/kg, in a thermal power station. It is a considerable relief for the natural environment and an alternative way of producing energy.
Other sites worth seeing:
 manor houses and parks in Brzeźnica (the 18th c.) and Kopytówka (the 19th c.),
a palace and park ensemble in Paszówka,
an 18th century church in Marcyporęba,
a wooden church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary in Sosnowice and another one, from 1664, dedicated to the Annunciation in Tłuczań,
a hydroelectric power station and a stage of fall in Łączany,
the Draboż range with beautiful views over the Vistula valley and the Beskid Mountains.
BRZEŹNICA COMMUNAL OFFICE
34-114 Brzeźnica 57
tel. 033 879 20 29, fax: 033 879 20 92
e-mail: gmina@brzeznica.pl
http://www.brzeznica.pl
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