Room 55 2nd floor (Bathroom Pompeian)

Historical names: "Gabinet w Wieży N°6" (1802) (Apartamenty Państwa Młodszych), „Garderoba na baszcie” (1862), „w wieży, z której potem zrobiliśmy pokój kąpielowy mieszkała moja panna służąca”1885-89 (1915)
Other names: Pompeian Bathroom, Room 55 2nd floor
Time of origin: 1629-41 – wall construction, paintings – 1771-1785, wood paneling – the beginning of the20th century
Artists: Vincenzo Brenna – painted decorations

Description: The Pompeian bathroom is located in the north-western tower of the Castle, above the Pompeian Salon (Room 54 2nd floor) from which eight wooden stairs with double-leaf panelled doors lead to the bathroom. On the bathroom door, from the side of the bathroom, there is painted a trident – the attribute of Poseidon. The bathroom is rectangular, with cut eastern corners. In the western wall there is a recess for a bathtub, and on both sides there are single-leaf doors – on the left side they lead to the Upper Study (the observatory) with an exit to the external gallery, on the right side to a small room with a washbasin and a 17th-century staircase leading down to the ground floor. The walls of this room are covered with 19th-century decorations, such as the kitchen staircase and the second part of the Room under the Ceiling, imitating stone blocks covered with ivy and grass. In the northern wall of the bathroom there is a rectangular recess with sanitary equipment, in the corner there is a mirror in a gilded profiled frame. There are two square, double-leaf windows in the room, facing west and east. The lower part of the walls and the window recesses are covered with painted paneling with plinths. The same paneling covers the sanitary equipment (the bathtub and toilet). The doors to the tower and the room with the stairs are decorated with a medallion with a woman's face, as well as shells and Greek vases. The walls above the paneling and the window recess are decorated with Pompeian-type canvas paintings with elements of grotesque and candelabrum motifs depicting plant flagella, flowers, shells and winged women whose silhouettes transform into plant twigs. In the medallions and rectangular panels, there can be seen figures of Apollo and the Muses, and in the recess above the bathtub, there is a scene with Poseidon and a Nereid. The polychrome ceiling is divided into geometric fields filled with arabesque decorations and plant ornaments. The floor in the bathroom is made of oak wood arranged in a herringbone pattern. The Pompeian paintings decorating the bathroom come from 1771 - 85 and are attributed to Vincenzo Brenna. In the years 1783-1807, the room was part of the Suite of Prince Henryk, and from 1807, it was a part of the Younger Couple's Suite and served as a dressing room. It is written in the diary of Elżbieta Potocka that in the years 1885-89 a maid lived here. The bathroom was arranged in the years 1890-1914 (during the last reconstruction) when there were added figural decorations, shells, ribbons and vases. Most likely, the changes of the decorations took place in the years 1851-1852, i.e. when the castle belonged to Józefina Maria Potocka née Czartoryska, as evidenced by the preserved documents from that time in which we read about painting works performed by Chodziński in the Study in the tower and 4 rooms in the towers on the second floor. In the years 1958-59, the restoration works were carried out by W. Śledziński and J. Bolesławski.

Bibliography:
• Kossakowska – Szanajca Zofia, Majewska – Maszkowska Bożena, Zamek w Łańcucie, Warszawa 1964.
• Omilanowska Małgorzata, Jakub Sito, Łańcut i okolice, [w]: Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, Instytut Sztuki PAN, Warszawa 1994.
• Piotrowski Józef, Zamek w Łańcucie, Lwów 1933.
• Potocka Elżbieta, , Łańcut - wspomnienia od roku 1885 do roku 1915, [Pamiętnik, maszynopis w zbiorach Muzeum-Zamek w Łańcucie].
• Kompleksowa Konserwacja wystroju wnętrz, Dokumentacja opisowa, 2014 – 2016, AC Konserwacja Zabytków.

Compilation: Przemysław Kucia