Ruin of the castle in Dąbrowica seen from Lublin

The Lubelskie Album is a work created in 1857-1859 on the basis of watercolours made in 1852 by Adam Lerue. With his drawings and watercolours, the artist contributed to the inventory of historical monuments in Lublin and the region - as he himself wrote in the introduction to the work - which was close to his heart because of his birthplace, Dubienka. Julian Cegliński and Władysław Walkiewicz, who made the lithographs in Adolf Pecq's lithography workshop in Warsaw, also contributed to the work.

The history of the castle in Dąbrowica dates back to the 15th century and is related to the history of the influential Firlej family, which had its seat there from 1409. Thanks to the Firlejs, Czemierniki (1507), Janowiec (1573), Lewartów (1543), Firlej (1557), Markuszów (1686) and Baranów, as well as numerous Renaissance residences were built. In Lublin, they founded a chapel at the Dominican Church. The last heir of the property in Dąbrowica was Józef Firlej. As a result of the lease by Piotr Bojanowski, the residence was significantly damaged and the case was brought to court. A detailed description from 1694 of the damage done during the lease has been preserved: “First, from the direction of Lublin, the wall and the pale[s] separating the estate from the farm, ruined to such an extent that only the foundations have remained. Having entered in aream, the palace built with two storeys in Italian style remains with bare walls, bricked up, on the occasion of the late Mr. Piotr Bojanowski, burned, ruined by him”.

We do not know much about the appearance of the castle. The building aroused interest of artists, it is known thanks to the first stock-takers of Polish monuments - Zygmunt Vogel, Leon Urmowski and Adam Lerue. The print shows two octagonal towers, the only preserved fragment of the building, which housed a chapel.

Klara Sadkowska