Totallympics Annual International Song Contest 2021

[rybak 2,694]

8 minutes ago, Gianlu33 said:

I will vote. I don't know when, but I will do it

Well 

 

 

[intoronto 4,242]

Will be sending asap

[rybak 2,694]

One of the last calls: 47 hours left to send the votes!!!

[rybak 2,694]

Due to lack of time yesterday, today we will visit two places, first one is...

 

Krasiczyn Castle

 

 

Krasiczyn Castle  is a renaissance castle à la fortezza in Krasiczyn, southeastern Poland. It stands on a lowland at the right bank of the San River, along the Przemyśl-Sanok route and some 10 kilometres southwest of Przemyśl. Across the centuries, the castle has belonged to several noble Polish families, and was visited by many Polish kings.

 

The construction of the castle started in 1580, initiated by a local nobleman Stanislaw Siecienski of Siecin, who came to the area from Mazovia. Works lasted for 53 years, and the castle was not completed until 1633, by Marcin Krasicki, son of Stanisław and Voivode of Podolia, who in the meantime had changed his name. Originally, the castle was a fortified stronghold, protecting southern border of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, Marcin Krasicki, who was regarded as one of the most important promoter of arts in the country, turned the fortress into a sophisticated residence (palazzo in fortezza), under supervision of Italian architect, Galleazzo Appiani. Also, he dubbed the complex Krasiczyn, after his last name. Later, a village of Krasiczyn grew near the castle, also bearing the same name. The Krasiczyn castle was built on the site of an older, wooden complex, called Sliwnica, which had probably been built in the 14th century.

 

 

Despite numerous fires and wars across the centuries, the castle's complex has been essentially unchanged since the early 17th century. Built as a square, with walls representing all four quarters of the globe, at the corners there are four oval-shaped towers: Divine (Boska), Papal (Papieska), Royal (Krolewska), and Noble (Szlachecka). These names reflected the eternal order of the world, with four grades of authority. The rectangular, spacious court is surrounded to the east and north by living quarters, and to the south and west by walls, adorned with attics. In the middle of the western wall, there is a square-shaped tower of the clock, added by Marcin Krasicki at the beginning of the 17th century. This tower serves as a main gate, with a wall bridge over the moat. Across the centuries, the castle attracted most famous personalities of Polish history. Among visitors, there were kings Sigismund III Vasa, Wladyslaw IV Vasa, John II Casimir Vasa, and Augustus II the Strong. Sigismund III Vasa, of whom Marcin Krasicki was a loyal supporter, visited the castle thrice. For the first time, in 1608, together with wife Constance of Austria

 

 

One of most precious elements of the complex is the chapel, located in the Divine Tower, which has been compared to the Sigismund's Chapel in Krakow’s Wawel Cathedral. Among other interesting things, there are richly sculpted portals, loggias, arcades, and unique sgraffito wall decorations, whose total area is about 7000 square meters. All works were overseen by Italian architects, and the details were completed by craftsmen from nearby Przemysl. The sgraffito depicted Roman emperors, Polish kings, members of the Krasicki family, hunting scenes, and saints of the Roman-Catholic Church. 

 

 

Near the castle, there is the Swiss Pavilion, connected with Krasiczyn by a secret passage. Standing also in the adjacent park is the Hunter’s Pavilion, a villa in "the hunter style". The park itself is abundant with birds and plants.

 

 

After Krasicki family died out in late 17th century, the complex was inherited by Urszula Modrzewska. Then it belonged to several other families: Wojakowscy, Tarłowie (since 1724), Potoccy (since 1751), Pinińscy (since 1785). Finally, in 1835, the castle was purchased by prince Leon Sapieha, and his family owned the complex until 1944 (with the exception of the Soviet occupation in 1939-1941), when Communist government of Poland nationalized it. The Sapieha family invested plenty of money in the castle. They remodelled it, with the help of Engerth, an architect from Vienna, founded a sawmill, a brewery, and a small factory of farmers’ appliances. They actively promoted economic development of the whole area. On 3 May 1852, a great fire destroyed most of the complex, except for the chapel, and it took several years to repair the damages. In 1867, one of the most important personalities of Polish Catholic Church, Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha was born here.

[rybak 2,694]

The second place which we will visit today is...

 

Nieborów Palace

 

 

Nieborów Palace is an aristocratic residence located in the village of Nieborów. Built in the 17th century by one of the greatest Baroque architects, the Dutchman Tylman van Gameren, the building belongs to one of the most renowned of Poland's aristocratic residences and serves as a museum of interior design of palace residences from the 17th to the 19th century, based on the surviving furniture and collections, featuring portraits of eminent personalities of the era, several thousand drawings and sketches, books (from the 16th century), porcelain and textiles.

 

Nieborów originates from the end of the 12th century with the creation of a village including a church built in 1314 and a wooden mansion. At the beginning of 16th century a Gothic-Renaissance manor was built. It lasted until the end of 17th century, by which time Niebórow was owned by Nieborowski clan of the Prawda (Truth) Coat of Arms. The residential complex consists of a palace, coach house, manufactory, outbuilding, orangery and two parks – a formal park and an English-style park

 

 

A wooden mansion, which had been there since the Middle Ages, was replaced by a much more representative, Gothic-Renaissance building in the 16th century. The erection of the current residence was ordered by the contemporary archbishop of Gniezno Michał Radziejowski, and it commenced in 1690. The residence was finally built in 1696 on the primate's grounds, previously owned by the Nieborowski clan.

 

After the archbishop's death, the residence was inherited by Jerzy Hipolit Towianski and Konstancja of Niszczycki clan. Their son Krzysztof sold the estate to Aleksander Jakub Lubomirski and Karolina Fryderyka von Vitzthum. Since the year 1736, it was owned by brothers Stanislaw and Jan Józef Łochocki.

 

 

The estate had its prime with various owners – The Great Hetman of Lithuania Michal Kazimierz Oginski (1766–1774) and Michael Hieronim and Helena of Radziwiłł clan, who was also the creator of nearby Arkadia. During their presence in the mansion, its interior has been pompously furnished with rococo and early classicist ornaments designed by Szymon Bogumił Zug. After Michael Oginski died, the estate started to fall into decline. Its successors were too busy quarrelling among each other to actually take care of the mansion. The straw that broke the camel's back was the squandering of family assets (including Arkadia) by Zygmunt Radziwiłł, who, in addition, sold the best pieces of art gathered in Nieborów at an auction in Paris.

 

Fortunately, Zygmunt gave over the estate to his nephew Michael Piotr Radziwiłł in 1879, before fleeing to France. Prince Michael has proven to be a good landlord – he has restored Nieborów estate to its former glory, and also bought back the Arkadia. Michael Piotr Radziwiłł died in 1903 without an heir. The estate was given over to this distant cousin Janusz Radziwiłł. In 1922, he ordered to build a second floor, which was very skilfully integrated into the tall, baroque roof, without any interference with the building's silhouette. The interior has also been rebuilt by design of Romuald Gutt.

 

 

Nieborów Estate has been designed by the greatest architect of that time – Tylman of Gameren. The storied, baroque edifice was covered with a tall, layered roof. There are towers by the courtyard, slightly on the side, and the whole estate is surrounded by a vast, geometric French formal garden. The manor itself is a two-storied building, the ground floor being covered by a mansard roof from the 1922 reconstruction. It has been built on a rectangular outline, with two angular towers on the northern side. The towers are decorated with bossage, pilasters, cornices and blind windows and are roofed with tented roofs. Northern and southern façades have ostensible avant-corpses, separated by cornices on the sides. The avant-corpses contain tympanums with stucco reliefs and coat-of-arms cartouches. The middle part of the building containing the vestibule is the only remain after the original, 16th century manor.

 

The building has a two-section interior. The mansion may pride itself with rich endowing. Right by the entrance, in the vestibule there are copies of famous sculptures – Head of Niobe and the Roman Bust, as well as the unique theatrical lamp from the 18th century. Four sandstone portals lead to the vestibule. On the left side there is the main staircase, which has walls and ceiling covered by azure Dutch tiles. There are various portraits on the walls, including those of the last Polish king Stanisław II Augustus, Hetman Stefan Czarniecki and king John III Sobieski. The stairs lead to the first floor, where the residential White Hall is located – formerly a ballroom and a chapel. In one of its corners, there is a copy of Saint Cecilia's sculpture.

 

Next to the White Hall there is a classicistic Yellow Study with a very interesting exhibit – a harmonica made of glass. There is also a bedroom with portraits of the Radziwiłł clan and a set of furniture. The library of the estate contains approximately 12 thousand volumes in stylish bindings. Another precious showpieces of this hall are two globes from the 17th century on pedestals, crafted by an Italian geographer V. Coronelli. They were bought in 1805 from Louis XVIII, who later became the king of France.

 

 

The Small Dining Room draws attention with its furniture from the turn of 18th and 19th century, as well as with a series of portraits depicting Polish kings, painted by renowned Polish-Italian painter Marcello Bacciarelli. Another interesting room is a rococo Red Study, which came into being during the 1766–1768 reconstruction by Michal Kazimierz Oginski. Its main feature is a portrait of Anna Orzelska, who was a bastard daughter of king August II and Henryk Renard. The Study is fitted with French furniture. On the first floor one can also see: the Voivode's Bedroom, the Prince's Bedroom, as well as Boudoir and the Green Study, which are located in the towers.

 

Nieborów Estate is surrounded by an impressive park. It consists of two big parts: landscape park designed by Tylman van Gameren and rectangular, a French-style garden followed the model of the Versailles. Lime avenue runs from the Palace, through the centre of the garden leading to the so-called “aha” – a narrowing clearing at the end of the avenue which gives an impression that the park is longer than in reality. Rows of plants are on the both sides of the avenue and next to the palace, there is the so-called “salon” – geometric flower beds.

 

 

The landscape park has a shape of an “L” letter. In its northern part there is a pond with a stream. A unique plant specimen grows here – Wolffia Arrhiza which is the smallest flowering plant in the world. In the park one can admire lapidariums and sculptures from different epochs. A special attention must be paid to: marble bas-relief named as “Porwanie Amfitryty przez Posejdona” (Kidnapping of Amphitrite by Poseidon), stone figures called “baby” (the women) which were transported to the park in 19th century from the Black Sea, and an ancient Roman gravestone built by Marek Wincjusz for Acilii Capitolinie. That surname was used by Henryk Sienkiewicz in “Quo Vadis”.

 

[rybak 2,694]

I believe that most of users will send their votes on time, but I'm worried about  and . Anyone have contact with users from these countries outside the forum?

[Olympian1010 7,477]

Votes sent. Fantastic selection this year. It was very hard to a) choose only 12 songs to award points to and b) put those 12 in an order. Overall, 25 songs received a final ranking from me.

[rybak 2,694]

24 hours left to send the votes!

 

Some of you for sure know, but lets remind this one, last time.

 

@Finnator123 @catgamer @Yannakis @Fly_like_a_don @Dnl @Glen @Gianlu33 @Ionoutz24 @heywoodu @Skijumpingmaster @justony

[heywoodu 13,559]

 

 

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[heywoodu 13,559]

19 hours ago, rybak said:

I believe that most of users will send their votes on time, but I'm worried about  and . Anyone have contact with users from these countries outside the forum?

Oh shit, I'll look at some reserves.

 

Spoiler

Or maybe not, got you!