The world of the residences of the Polish Borderland elite was irretrievably lost due to the cataclysms of the 20th century. They belonged first to the rulers, the nobility and then to the landed gentry, creating the historical landscape of the former eastern lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth called the Borderlands. They were a bridge between the traditions of many families, lands and regions and fine literature, art, and national tradition.
The residences of the ruling rulers and nobility, and later the landed gentry, in the former eastern lands of the Commonwealth were of vital importance to Polish history and culture for several centuries. The princely and royal castles, as well as the magnate palaces and noblemen’s mansions witnessed numerous important historical events, and their owners and inhabitants greatly shaped the history of that land. The residences of the Borderland elite were centres of culture, with outstanding architectural monuments and collections of valuable works of art, as well as family memorabilia and archives collected over the centuries.
The residences of the rulers and landowners were family nests which provided home to many distinguished figures of merit to Poland including rulers, politicians, clergymen, writers, artists, commanders, soldiers, scientists, and economic activists. The Borderland gentry, attached to Polish culture, came not only from ethnically Polish, Lithuanian or Ruthenian lands. Polonised families came from almost all over Europe having German, Tatar, Italian, French, Swedish, Dutch, Flemish, Irish, Czech, Moravian, Hungarian and even Serbian, Albanian, Croatian, and Greek roots.
For centuries, especially during the Partitions of Poland, manors and palaces were mainstays of Polishness and patriotism. For their participation in national uprisings, the partitioners often punished the owners of manors and palaces with confiscation of their property and deportation. During the First World War, and later during the Polish-Bolshevik War and other wars for the borders of the Second Republic, as well as in the defensive war of 1939, landowners from the borderland also contributed in large numbers to Polish military formations, and manor houses were often burnt and destroyed during military operations. Nevertheless, a great many manors and palaces still fulfilled their cultural role, radiating into the area of the borderland estates, villages, and towns.
The extermination of the Polish landed gentry was caused by the Second World War and the takeover of the eastern lands of the Second Polish Republic by the Soviet Union. At that time, the landed gentry in the borderlands lost their estates, were persecuted, arrested and sent to gulags and camps. Many paid with their lives. They were murdered by the Soviet repressive forces, the Soviet army, partisans, rebellious peasants, and the German repressive system. Priceless furnishings, collections of art, furniture, militaria, home libraries, archives and family heirlooms were also destroyed.
Before 1939, there were tens of thousands of landed gentry residences in the eastern lands of the Second Polish Republic. Less than 10 % of those mansions survived the conflagration of war and the Soviet period. In many localities, no manor house, palace, or castle has survived, but other valuable elements of residential complexes have been preserved, such as farm buildings, fragments of spatial arrangements – including parks, alleys, burial chapels, or family cemeteries.
After the liquidation of the landed gentry layer, almost all manors and palaces were plundered by the Soviets and the inhabitants of the surrounding villages. Many of them were completely destroyed, most were devastated. Often, they were used by the administration of kolkhozes or sovkhozes, and schools, hospitals, sanatoria or goods depots, which generally involved reconstruction, degrading their historical and aesthetic value. The devastation of the buildings was complemented by a lack of care for their condition, maintenance, and repairs. As a result, borderland residences are still falling into disrepair in most cases for many years. Almost no trace remains of some of them. Only some of the manor houses and palaces (especially in Lithuania) have been rebuilt, renovated, or even reconstructed in recent years (e.g. the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in Vilnius). They house museums, cultural centres, or other public institutions, sometimes hotels and guest houses.
The state of preservation of Borderland residences varies between Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine. Lithuania, which is part of the European Union, provides relatively the best care. In the case of Ukraine, only a small proportion of residential architectural monuments have been restored over the past two decades. Examples include the castles at Chocim, Kamieniec Podolski, Zbaraż and Żółkwia (Khotyn, Kamianets Podolski, Zbarazh and Zhovkva), which have been partially restored. Fewer manor, palace and castle buildings have been preserved in Belarus, but in the last dozen years, the state’s interest in these monuments has increased. The most significant activity was the comprehensive restoration of Nesvizh and Mir castles, the most valuable and best preserved in the country. Both sites have become important tourist attractions. Museums have been established in several renovated or reconstructed manor houses – examples include Zaosie (Adam Mickiewicz Museum) and Mereczowszczyzna (Tadeusz Kościuszko Museum). In Ukraine and Belarus, old manor houses practically do not become private property and are not used, for example, for hotels.
A problem which determines the state of preservation of historical monuments in the former Soviet Union countries is the low interest in historical monuments among the present inhabitants and the lack of a sense of responsibility for the heritage of the former Polish Republic. Recently, this awareness has been changing somewhat, but due to the conflict in Ukraine and the socio-economic problems of the former Soviet bloc states, unfortunately many of the Borderlands’ valuable manor and mansion buildings are doomed to extinction.