Yesterday, the heat was unbearable. I took Joan to the huge park, but it was so hot pushing her around that we didn't stay long. Instead, we visited the Ostromecko Palace.
Between 1759 and 1766, Paweł Michał Mostowski built the Old Palace (also known as the Mostowski Palace) on the foundations of the earlier single-story manor house. The Ostromecko Palace and Park Complex is a historic estate situated just outside Bydgoszcz along the scenic valley of the Vistula River. The complex is unique because it features two distinct residences, the Old Palace and the New Palace, set within a 38-hectare historic park.
In the 19th century, under Prussian rule, the estate passed into the hands of the German noble Schönborn family and, later, through marriage, into the hands of the Alvensleben family.
Between 1832 and 1848, Jakub Marcin von Schönborn commissioned a much larger, Neoclassical residence, the New Palace. Towards the late 19th century, the New Palace was expanded with Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Baroque wings, adding a grand ballroom and a hunting lodge. Also, the grounds surrounding both palaces were expanded into a sprawling 38-hectare English-style landscape park.
Unfortunately, there was no entrance for wheelchairs. I asked Joan if she would mind waiting in the shade while I went in to take pictures. She agreed.
I only looked at the New Palace. It had three floors, but I only visited two. I needed to get back to Joan.
There was an amazing collection of historical pianos dating back to 1978. It is one of the largest collections of antique pianos in Poland. There are over 70 pianos and related instruments.
There is also a collection of accordions produced at the Bydgoszcz Accordion Factory, which operated in the city between 1949 and 1973.
I just wish I could have spent more time there.
