The museum is located in the right wing of the former palace of Count Aleksander Branicki, the only part that survived after the events of the 1918-1920 period.
The Count built the palace in Stavysche in 1856, not far from the church, and the following year, he established a park.
The central building had only a ground floor, which was later connected by covered galleries to two-story guest houses called wings. Only the women's guest part has survived to this day, but it no longer retains its original palace features and has been modified in the Soviet architectural "modernism" style.
Contemporaries were enchanted by the splendor of the provincial palace built by the grandson of Crown Hetman Franciszek Ksaveri Branicki and Countess patroness Aleksandra Branicki from Engelhardt.
Although the Branicki only lived in Stavysche in the summer, there was no shortage of luxury items. For example, there are records of a silver service for 120 people made by Parisian jeweler Jean-Baptiste-Claude Odiot. The interior was adorned with paintings by artists from the Rubens school and works by German masters. Gilded chandeliers and candelabras were visible everywhere, and the rooms and salons were decorated with Chinese porcelain and Turkish furniture. The painting gallery included portraits of Hetman Stefan Czarniecki (who burned Stavysche in 1665) and representatives of the Branicki family painted by German artists.
The dining room was furnished with pale green furniture, and behind the dining room was an orangery with a banana tree.
Polish writer Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz (1894-1980) spent the summers of 1914 and 1915 in Stavysche. He recalled, "I encountered here the magnate lifestyle, the pleasures of a grand celebration, a life of abundance. The house was full of youth, for whom new entertainments were constantly invented. Hour-long horse rides with two trainers, boating, tennis, lengthy visits to friendly homes, concerts, and excursions filled the time... One of the greatest pleasures were the morning horse rides on horses from the Branitsky stables. They were the most beautiful horses I had ever seen - Arabians, English, and thoroughbreds. There were so many of them that there were not enough boys in the stables to take care of them daily..."
There is a mention that the looting of the Count's palace took place on May 1, 1917, after the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II. The peasants could not cope with their newfound freedom and began to plunder the noble palaces. It was raining, the ground was muddy, and the peasants carried down the street bed linen, curtains, dishes, luxurious furniture, and anything else they could manage to haul. One man ended up with a huge mirror, but his peasant hut was too small, so he dragged the mirror into the stable. When the cow saw her reflection, she shattered the chandelier, injuring both herself and the man.
In 1920, a teacher seminary was established in the remains of the palace. Dokiya Humenna, a future writer, enrolled in the seminary from Zhashkiv, and in the fall of 1921, writer Dmytro Zahul came to teach Ukrainian and foreign literature. However, the seminary was disbanded the following year after the arrest of seven students for supporting the underground "Petliurist" movement.
Until 1969, the building housed a school, and until 1980, it served as a branch of the Kyiv Defense Plant "Tochelktrorprylad."
In 1985, Vasil Polikarpovych Voloshyn, a teacher and war veteran, founded the Stavyshchensky District Historical and Local Lore Museum in this building. The museum collected artifacts from the past, including tools, clothing, utensils, and decorations, as well as exhibits related to the events of the 1917-1920 period, the interwar period, World War II, and the post-war reconstruction.
Currently, the building is occupied by the Stavyshchensky Historical and Local Lore Museum and the municipal institution of extracurricular education called "Krokus."
You can watch a video tour of the museum:
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