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Archbishop's Palace
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Archbishop's PalaceThe Archbishop's Palace and headquarters at no. 1 Ostrów Tumski street is one of Ostrów Tumski's most important places. It stands in gardens which were extended in the 17th century following the demolition of the neighbouring, derelict canonries and which are intersected by what is called the "Chwaliszewo route' (see Archbishopric Seminary on Zagórze).
The erection of Poznań's cathedral certainly meant residences for its subsequent bishops were also required, yet the first mention of a bishop's palace (from the 19th century the archbishop's palace) comes from the 15th century. This states that in 1404 one of Poznań's bishops resided on Ostrów Tumski in a newly built manor. Up until the mid-17th century the building was restructured and extended several times, for example as a result of increasingly dangerous flooding from the River Warta. With the Swedish invasion in the late-17th century, when Poznań's bishops also functioned as royal secretaries of state and more often than not resided in Warsaw, the Poznań palace became progressively emptier, which meant that "it was bound to go to the dogs". Early-18th-century records note that the building was in need of thorough renovation "for it is impossible to live in".
It is likely that the new palace made use of the existing walls and was built in 1730 to Pompeo Ferrari's design. King August Sas II was one of many who spent the night here on his way from Saxony to Warsaw, of course in the absence of the bishop. The building was restructured once more between 1852-54 by Karl Heinrich Schinkl, the government building inspector, after the Prussian government refused financial support for a new building. The design project is attributed both to Gustaw Schulz, whose impressive design of another palace can also be seen on the corner of Marcinkowskiego Avenue and Podgórna Street, and also to Juliusz Salkowski.
The building is entered through a columned balcony portico, beneath which stand two marble sculptures of St. Peter and St. Paul, created in Rome between 1864-1865 by Oskar Sosnowski, and which flanked the cathedral high altar until 1945. On the square before the palace is a late-Baroque statue of St. John Nepomucene dating from around 1730, which was brought from the Mycielski palace in nearby Kobylempole, destroyed by fire in 1945.