English: 'Cloister' with fresco of
Korczak Crest at Castle/Palace in
Baranów Sandomierski.
Baranów Sandomierski is a small town on the
Vistula River in southern Poland, in
Tarnobrzeg County in the
Subcarpathian Province. The settlement or the
gord of Baranów was first mentioned in 1135. It was conveniently located near the Vistula river ford, and in 1354 it was granted town charter by King
Casimir III the Great. Baranów belonged to the Baranowski family, and in the late fifteenth century it became property of the Kurozwecki family. In 1518 Barbara Kurozwecka married Stanisław Górka, so Baranów remained in the hands of the Górka family until 1560, when it was sold to Rafał Leszczyński. During the
Protestant Reformation, Baranów was an important center of
Calvinism. The town prospered due to grain trade, as well as its artisans. Its decline began during the catastrophic
Swedish invasion of Poland (1655 - 1660), when Baranów was ransacked and burned. In 1677 the town was sold to Dymitr Wiśniowiecki, later on it belonged to the
Lubomirski family, and the
Potocki family. After the
partitions of Poland Baranów found itself in the Austrian province of
Galicia, where it remained from 1772 until 1918.
The town is well known for its picturesque
Renaissance Castle built in 1591-1606. It is known as "Little
Wawel". This castle is a class zero monument. It is believed to be the work of the famous architect,
Santi Gucci, the court artist of King
Sigismund II Augustus, who brought many foreign architects from around Europe to Poland in the sixteenth century. The castle was built around 1591–1606 for
Rafał and Andrzej Leszczyński. Its style comes from the
Italian renaissance. By the end of the seventeenth century, the next owners were the Lubomirski family, who decided to change the residence. They hired a Dutch architect, who added columns on the inside of the castle courtyard, on which there was a gallery of art by
Giovanni Battista (unfortunately the art was destroyed in two fires in 1848 and 1898).
The Scotch Mist Gallery contains many photographs of historic buildings, monuments and memorials of Poland.