Smolajny (formerly ''Smołowo'') is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the administrative district of

Gmina Dobre Miasto __NOTOC__ Gmina Dobre Miasto is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Olsztyn County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. Its seat is the town of Dobre Miasto, which lies approximately north of the regional capital Olszt ...

, within

Olsztyn County __NOTOC__ Olsztyn County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, northern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in ...

, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies on the

Łyna River Łyna may refer to: * Łyna River (Russian: Лава ''Lava'', German: ''Alle''), a river in Poland and Russia * Łyna, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship (German: ''Lahne''), a village in Poland near the source of the river {{geodis ...

in the historical region of

Warmia Warmia ( ; Latin: ''Varmia'', ''Warmia''; ; Warmian subdialect, Warmian: ''Warńija''; Old Prussian language, Old Prussian: ''Wārmi'') is both a historical and an ethnographic region in northern Poland, forming part of historical Prussia (reg ...

, approximately north of

Dobre Miasto Dobre Miasto (; ; literally Good City) is a town in Poland, in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship with 9,857 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is situated in the northwestern part of the Masurian Lake District in the heart of the historical regio ...

and north of the regional capital

Olsztyn Olsztyn ( , ) is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with powiat rights, city with county rights. The population of the city was estimated at 169,793 residents Olsz ...

History

The village was founded in 1290 by

Bishop of Warmia This is a list of Bishops and Prince-Bishops of the Diocese of Warmia (, , ), which was elevated to the Archdiocese of Warmia in 1992. The Bishopric was founded in 1243 as the Bishopric of Ermland, one of four bishoprics of Teutonic Prussia ...

Heinrich Fleming. From 1350 it served as the summer residence of the prince-bishops of Warmia. It was destroyed by war in 1414, 1454, 1519–21 and 1709 and was rebuilt each time. In 1454, it was incorporated to Poland by King

Casimir IV Jagiellon Casimir IV (Casimir Andrew Jagiellon; ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447 until his death in 1492. He was one of the most active Polish-Lithuanian rulers; under ...

upon the request of the anti-Teutonic

Prussian Confederation The Prussian Confederation (, ) was an organization formed on 21 February 1440 at Marienwerder (present-day Kwidzyn) by a group of 53 nobles and clergy and 19 cities in Prussia, to oppose the arbitrariness of the Teutonic Knights. It was based o ...

, and confirmed as part of Poland in 1466. It was the favourite summer residence of leading

Polish Enlightenment The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment in Poland were developed later than in Western Europe, as the Polish bourgeoisie was weaker, and szlachta (nobility) culture (Sarmatism) together with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth political system (Gol ...

poet

Ignacy Krasicki Ignacy Błażej Franciszek Krasicki (3 February 173514 March 1801), from 1766 Prince-Bishop of Warmia (in German, ''Ermland'') and from 1795 Archbishop of Gniezno (thus, Primate of Poland), was Poland's leading Polish Enlightenment, Enlightenment ...

. It was annexed by

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

in the

First Partition of Poland The First Partition of Poland took place in 1772 as the first of three partitions that eventually ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The growth of power in the Russian Empire threatened the Kingdom of Prussia an ...

in 1772, and from 1871 it also formed part of Germany. In 1945, after the defeat of Nazi Germany in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Smolajny became again part of Poland. In 1975–98 Smolajny belonged administratively to

Olsztyn Voivodeship Olsztyn Voivodeship () was an administrative division and unit of local government in Poland in the years 1946–75, and a new territorial division between 1975–1998, superseded by Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. Its capital city was Olszty ...

Monuments

Located in Smolajny is a former summer palace of the

bishops of Warmia This is a list of Bishops and Prince-Bishops of the Diocese of Warmia (, , ), which was elevated to the Archdiocese of Warmia in 1992. The Bishopric was founded in 1243 as the Bishopric of Ermland, one of four bishoprics of Teutonic Prussia. ...

built in 1741–46 in the

Rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

style by Prince-Bishop Adam Stanisław Grabowski. The palace became the favorite residence of the famous

satirist This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires. Early satirical authors *Aes ...

and

fabulist Fable is a literary genre defined as a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a partic ...

, future Prince-Bishop

, who had served as Bishop Grabowski's

coadjutor The term "coadjutor" (literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadjutor bishop ...

. Krasicki established there a beautiful park and built a gate tower (1765). The palace building is now used by an agricultural school. The village also features 18th- and 19th-century houses.

References

*T. Darmochwał, M.J. Rumiński, ''Warmia, Mazury, przewodnik'' (

and

Mazury Masuria ( ; ; ) is an ethnographic and geographic region in northern and northeastern Poland, known for its 2,000 lakes. Masuria occupies much of the Masurian Lake District. Administratively, it is part of the Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship (ad ...

: A Guide-book),

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the List of cities and towns in Poland, tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Biał ...

, Agencja TD, 1996.

External links

History of the palace in Smolajny
{{Gmina Dobre Miasto Villages in Olsztyn County Populated riverside places in Poland