Kazanowski Palace

Kazanowski Palace
17th century image.
General information
Architectural style	Baroque
Town or city	Warsaw
Country	Poland
Construction started	1628
Completed	1643
Demolished	1656
Client	Adam Kazanowski
Design and construction
Architect	Constantino Tencalla

The Kazanowski Palace (Polish: pałac Kazanowskich), also known as the Radziejowski Palace, was a large palace in Warsaw, occupying the place where the Charitable Center Res Sacra Miser stands today.

When prince Władysław Vasa (future King Władysław IV of Poland) became an adolescent, his father Sigismund III Vasa bought him a wooden mansion at the Krakowskie Przedmieście in Warsaw. Shortly after his return in 1628 from a journey to Western Europe the prince ordered a court architect to build him a new palace in the Italian style. Tencalla created one of the most wonderful palaces ever built in Warsaw.

In 1632, prince Władysław gave the palace to his favourite, Adam Kazanowski; this caused a serious misunderstanding with the King, and a special Sejm committee was appointed to determine the circumstances behind this gesture. In 1637, Kazanowski enlarged the building, holding to Tencalla's original designs. The new structure was a large four-storied palace with a garden, enormous terrace and central courtyard—alcove tops were decorated with gilded crowns.

The rich furnishings of the palace were described in 1646 by Jean Le Laboureur, a companion of the French Ambassador Extraordinaire to Poland, Madame de Guébriand. Le Laboureur was amazed by what he saw inside—a large statue of Bacchus made of pure silver sitting on a barrel with wheels (that served as a wine vessel during banquets), gilded wooden ceilings in the Venetian style, rooms filled with oil paintings, marble decorations, Flemish and oriental tapestries, oriental objects, furniture from Italy and Bavaria, silverware, a live bear inside a gilded cage in the courtyard, caged monkeys and a large collection of musical instruments belonging to Crown Court Marshal Kazanowski's private orchestra.