Palace in Hryców
“Indeed, those who went into exile left their hearts there. These memories, so that they don’t entirely fade, must be presented and commemorated. Thus I do, describing some of these monuments”
Antoni Urbański, “FROM THE BLACK TRAIL AND THOSE BORDERS – Polish monuments lost in Podolia, Volhynia, Ukraine”, published by the author, Warsaw 1927
This is a vast stretch of land.
From the Zbrucz to the Dnieper Rapids, from the Wild Fields to the Lithuanian lands.
These lands, seemingly sad, were enchanting.
Whatever was virtuous, adhered to them forever.
It was our homeland.
Stained with Polish blood, nurtured with Polish culture, sustained by Polish labor.
It was a shield for the Crown, faced invaders, shielded from assault.
The Pole lingered on it long and did not cease to work.
I write the history of this land.
I want to recall manor houses, chapels, libraries, monuments, battle mementos, to say:
All this is gone.
Lost irretrievably.
The people who lived there, some were murdered, others burned, and their ashes scattered to the four corners of the world.
Those who survived went into exile, became wanderers, often without a place to weep.
From their worn thresholds, from their tombstones, they went out into the world.
And the manors? Only ruins remain, skeletons, often the places where they stood were plowed over, so the owner wouldn’t recognize where they were born.
Sometimes a chimney stands, like the wrath of God.
The people who left saw the death of the family home.
Where there was a garden, now lies a wasteland.
No sound roams. Everything is cast in silence.
Grave silence reigns everywhere.
In the houses were momentos.
Books collected for generations were lost.
A million books vanished.
White ravens, manuscripts, privileges, parchments, charters, town and land records, chancery files, fascicles were destroyed.
Family archives were turned to nothing. Archives of the Ostrogski, Zasławski, Sanguszko, Tyzenhauz, Potocki, Oranski and many others.
Gone are the mementos of struggles for freedom and rights.
Banners, armor, weapons, trappings.
Marbles, sculptures, consoles of malachite and lapis lazuli, mirrors, crystals were smashed to pulp.
Art galleries burned, tapestries, arrases, gold and silverware looted. Places with historical memories turned to ash.
Places memorable by Żółkiewski, Czarniecki, Jarema Wiśniowiecki, Sobieski. Memorable by Bar Confederates and Insurgents.
The wealth of knowledge spread by academies, universities, monasteries, schools was destroyed.
Everything was demolished, ravaged, exterminated.
Stone did not remain on stone, and grass does not grow where the destroyer trod.
Heaven help us! The best people have perished.
Our battles and the culture of several centuries have sunk into nothingness.
Indeed, those who went into exile left their hearts there.
These memories, so that they don’t entirely fade, must be presented and commemorated.
Thus I do, describing some of these monuments. Antoni Urbański “FROM THE BLACK TRAIL AND THOSE BORDERS – Polish monuments lost in Podolia, Volhynia, Ukraine”, Published by the Author, Warsaw 1927