Białowieża. Under the oaks, they discovered the foundations of a forgotten manor house

– The greatest examples of disinformation on this topic are Russian sources from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. For example, in 1903, Georgi Kartsov, a Russian officer working in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, published in St. Petersburg a beautifully illustrated book about the Białowieża Forest, in which he wrote that King Sigismund III Vasa had never been hunting here and was not interested in this place. Neither he nor even his son – Władysław IV. This information was later repeated over the years, also in Polish studies. And we know what the attitude of Russian historiography could have been towards the king during whose reign Poles captured Moscow – smiles prof. Bogumiła Jędrzejewska from the Institute of Mammal Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Białowieża.

She cooperated with a group of scientists from the Institute of Archeology of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, who recently conducted archaeological research opposite the Nature and Forest Museum in Białowieża. The idea was to unravel the mystery of the palace oaks.

– These huge trees today (13 living and one withered) are visible in the engraving from the times of King Augustus III the Saxon as “small bushes”, and from the times of King Stanisław August Poniatowski – as slightly larger oaks. Everything indicates that they grew up in a place where there was a royal hunting manor during the reign of the Vasas – says Prof. Jędrzejewska. (he sends us an engraving he colored by Jakub Sokołowski, “View of Białowieża” 1821, from J. Brincken's book from 1826 “Description of the Imperial Białowieża Forest in Lithuania”, which shows the manor house from the times of Stanisław August Poniatowski).

She adds that for years, while walking among the oaks, she found tiny fragments of stove tiles or hand-made bricks.

– More artifacts of this type were discovered during very preliminary research, for which at the turn of 2004 and 2005 I invited archaeologists from the Institute of Archeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw to Białowieża – notes our interlocutor.

The result of recent excavations is the discovery of 16th, 17th and 18th century bricks, which were part of the foundations of a building that was part of the manor complex.

– We did not find the remains of the manor itself, because it was located in a place where oak trees grow today. We could not carry out work there due to the risk of destroying their root systems. However, the results of non-invasive tests prove that the foundations of the manor house have been preserved in the ground – including: using GPR – says Dr. Joanna Wawrzeniuk from the Institute of Archeology of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, who led the archaeological research.

He adds that in addition to the bricks, a coin was also found (two kopecks from 1868) – and a button from the tsar's uniform.

– We also found fragments of vessels – the oldest from the 16th century and the youngest from the 19th century. There were also a lot of nails and animal bones – notes the archaeologist.

The history of the court is closely related to the first king of the Vasa dynasty on the Polish throne, Sigismund III Vasa.

– It can be said that he not only moved the capital of Poland from Krakow to Warsaw, but also moved the capital of the Białowieża Forest from the old to the new Białowieża – emphasizes Prof. Jędrzejewska.

Stara Białowieża is today's name of the area located approximately seven kilometers from Białowieża. At the end of the 14th century, during the reign of King Władysław II Jagiełło, a wooden hunting manor was built there.

The first royal hunt mentioned in sources (specifically in the chronicles of Jan Długosz) took place in 1409. Władysław II Jagiełło, going to war with the Teutonic Knights, hunted here with his team.

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– My research shows that Jagiełło visited the Białowieża Forest about 40 times. Also before 1409. Subsequent kings from the Jagiellon dynasty, and later Stefan Batory, also hunted here. When Sigismund III Vasa came here to hunt in 1588, less than a year after taking the throne, he probably found the manor in need of renovation or even no longer suitable for renovation. I think it was this fact that prompted the king to build a new manor house. No longer in a marshy area, as before, but in a dry and slightly higher area, our interlocutor notes.

The conventional date of foundation of the new Białowieża (i.e. current Białowieża) is 1596. It is from this year that a letter comes from in which King Sigismund III Vasa writes to his treasurer not to oppress the diggers of the ponds at “our Białowieża manor”. The manor must have already existed in this period. Later sources mention – apart from ponds – among others: about a mill on the Narewka River or several houses inhabited by people serving the manor.

– The Vasa period was not only the creation of the manor and the establishment of the town, but also its enormous expansion and constant increase in the population. The first names that appear in 17th-century documents have survived to this day. Led by the Wołkowycki family, who are still the oldest and largest family in Białowieża – emphasizes prof. Jędzejewska.

Sigismund III Vasa came to Białowieża for hunting five times, King Władysław IV and John Casimir also visited here.

– The manor was most likely destroyed during the Third Northern War (lasted in 1700-1721 – ed.), specifically in 1702-06, when Swedish troops occupied Grodno and ruined Brest. Białowieża was located on the road from Grodno to Brest. The Swedish army was leaving ashes behind, says our interlocutor.

The next hunting manor was built in Białowieża by King August III Saxon.

– Despite the legends that his father, Augustus II the Strong, wrestled a bear here, it was only his son who came to the forest to hunt. He was here twice – in 1744 and in 1752. The manor was built near the place where the previous one stood until the Swedish invasion. It was on the ashes of the Vasa manor that oaks grew, which we can still admire today, while the Saxon manor was expanded by King Stanisław August Poniatowski, who, by the way, was here only once – in 1784. The manor was completely destroyed in 1831 as part of the repression after the November Uprising. The forest protection service, which dates back to the times of the First Polish Republic, took an active part in the fighting, for which it was punished – says Prof. Jędrzejewska.

A new chapter in the history of the town began in 1894 when, on the orders of Tsar Alexander III, the construction of the tsar's palace was completed (it was built near the manor house destroyed in 1831).

– Only the gate remains of this impressive building. It was the latest royal palace in Europe to be built and the one in use for the shortest time. It was abandoned already in 1915 under the pressure of the German army. However, during the Second Polish Republic it housed, among others, the residence of President Ignacy Mościcki, the state school for foresters, the management of the newly established national parliament. The palace was burned down in 1944 by retreating Hungarian troops (they supported German troops in the attack on the Soviet Union – ed.). The walls were strong, but there was no roof and the interior was burnt. The ruin stood like that for years. In 1958, the then first secretary of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party, Władysław Gomułka, decided – apparently personally – to demolish the palace – says Prof. Jędrzejewska. The main body was demolished in 1961.

He explains that the 1950s and 1960s were a period when it was still possible to correct our eastern border.

– Gomułka was afraid that the presence of a palace from the tsarist times in Białowieża might provide an excuse to incorporate the town into the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. Especially since Białowieża miraculously found itself within Polish borders. Prime Minister Edward Osóbka-Morawski won this from Joseph Stalin. Originally, the Byelorussian SSR was to include the lands east of Hajnówka, excluding Białowieża. Today, only the accompanying buildings and the gate remain of the tsar's palace. However, this is more than the Vasa court, of which the only souvenir are oak trees, our interlocutor points out.