OD KAMIENICY KANONIKA WILEŃSKIEGO PO PIERWSZY SALON WARSZAWY. HISTORIA PAŁACU POD BLACHĄ

The work presents the history of the "Copper-Roof Palace", which turned from an inconspicuous tenement house of a Vilnius canon to ‘Warsaw’s first salon’. The work presents the circumstances of the construction of this object. The article also presents the conditions for the reconstruction of the palace after its destruction at the end of the 17th century. It was then that the building was purchased by Krzysztof Montwid Białłozor, a Vilnius canon. When Jerzy Dominik Lubomirski purchased the building in 1720, the palace was covered with a specific copper sheet. The work contains engravings, including paintings by Bernard Bellott Canaletto, showing Warsaw from the 18th century, as well as the Copper-Roof Palace. The next part of the article describes the fate of the building, which passed into the hands of Antoni Benedykt Lubomirski, and then Franciszek Ferdynand Lubomirski. The designer of the reconstruction of the building after the fire in 1760 could have been a representative of Baroque and Classicism, the court architect of Polish kings, Jakub Fontana. The article also describes the external appearance of the rebuilt building that became the property of the last king of Poland, Stanisław August Poniatowski. It was then that the Copper-Roof Palace entered a new era, connected first with the reconstruction according to the design of Jakub Fontana’s relative and student – Dominik Merlini, and then – with the transformation of the building into a meeting place for outstanding personalities. The palace became a complex of three interconnected buildings. In fact, the Palace became the first salon in Warsaw during the time it was managed by Prince Józef Poniatowski, his sister Maria Teresa Tyszkiewiczowa née Poniatowska, and his friend, Countess Henrietta de Vauban. Then, the work describes the renovation works from the beginning of the 19th century and the unusual fate of the Palace from that period. At the end, the work shows the current appearance of the building, its interior and the functions that the Palace currently performs.