Abstract
Historical parks, as an inseparable element of manors and landowners’ palaces, constitute a valuable cultural heritage, commemorating the times of the Polish nobility. From among the 16,000 manor houses existing before 1939, only 3433 objects remained, including 1965 of them are residential parks without the dominant feature in the form of a building. Numerous studies and activities are carried out to protect, restore, maintain and adapt these facilities to current needs. They are general, often theoretical, or individual concern objects, or only mansions or palaces, excluding parks, which makes it difficult to assess the problem objectively. The aim of this study is a comprehensive assessment of the distribution (in terms of spatial, social and administrative terms), the state of preservation (in terms of area size, technical, phytosanitary and original composition) and the use of the potential of historical parks in manor or palace complexes. The authors examined the distribution of these objects using relative indicators and descriptive statistics. The economic potential of the parks was explored in comparison to the facilities based on their sale offers, using the analysis of variance and the Tukey test. The results show the detailed distribution, state of preservation and problems related to the current and potential use of post-manor parks, manor and palace parks in 16 voivodeships of the country.
Highlights
Manor-house parks and palace-park complexes established during the feudal period are an essential spatial, historical and cultural element of rural areas in Poland, as well as in other European countries
Theoretical research covered 3433 historical parks in manor houses and palace complexes, most of which were located in Greater Poland (500), Pomerania (496), Warmia and Masuria (319), Kuyavian-Pomeranian (339) and Masovia (306)
The smallest number of manor houses remained in Lesser Poland (173), Lubusz (68), Silesian (54) and Podlasie (38), where wooden manor houses dominated, and where the war damage was severe (Table 2)
Summary
Manor-house parks and palace-park complexes established during the feudal period are an essential spatial, historical and cultural element of rural areas in Poland, as well as in other European countries. In the 17th Century, the nobility or magnates inhabiting these estates constituted as much as 10% of Poland population. It was more than in any other country of the time in Europe, with an average share of 3–4% of the noble class [1]. Throughout the entire period of the First Republic—Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (i.e., until the third partition of Poland in 1795)—the largest and best organized noble estates belonged to large families. These were the largest agricultural producers, processors and significant exporters. The average size of land estates in Poland in 1921 was 600 ha [2], while already by 1939, had fallen to about 400 ha [1]
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