Majestic and dignified manor towered above the fields and forests. It was often surrounded by wide park, which separated the house from the surrounding villages. Polish manor, like churches and oligarch residences, took great part in landscape creating in Poland. Even till now the Polish manor is one of the most characteristic feature of Polish architecture.
Author: Kura under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
From the sixteenth century Polish manor was the most common building style. Many Polish noble families built their houses in such style, so the manors were very characteristic elements of Polish landscape. Why the Polish manor style was so popular ? Obvious reason was the fact, that living in such house was very comfortable - symetric with one floor, built from the best kinds of wood, but much cheaper from the palace and built by ordinary carpenters.
Author:Paweł Grzywocz under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic
Author:Jakub Gałka under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
The second manor popularity reason was strong attachment to the tradition by Poles. Noble house was always constructed under the common known rules. In the middle of the house was big hall, which separated the house into two symmetric parts. The rooms were transitive and none of them were closed. There was also very clear division to the day and night areas - first floor was intended to served in day to the family and guest, and the attic served in night as sleeping places only to the family.
Image from Z. Gloger's "Encyklopedia staropolska"
Traditional architectonics forms of Polish manors were shaped by few rules:
- the first was wide, massive, covered by shingle roof (in XVII century roofs were often divided in the 2/1 ratio - for example manor in Lopuszna)
- the second important rule, were alkierze - alkierz it was corner chamber which gave the manors more charm.
- another rule was rectangle shape of the manor
- the last one, but the most important element of Polish manors was porch - the main entrance to the house covered by the roof supported by two or four columns.
Author: Karol Sawicz under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
On the end some interesting thing. The doors to the Polish manor were almost always opened as sign of the owners hospitality. For the same reason, the gate to the property was also open. Moreover, some hosts did not care about the gate, so it could hang only on one hinge. This was to show that the gate is never closed to the wanderers and guests.