Janina ir Vladislovas Umiastovskiai

LTVladislovo Umiastovskio tėvas kilęs iš senos Mazovijos riterių Pierzchalų giminės. XV a. pabaigoje dalis giminės įsikūrė prie Varšuvos, o viena iš apgyvendintų vietovių vadinosi Umiastovas (Umiastów). Taip atsirado naujoji šeimos pavardė - Umiastovskiai. Giminės atšakai, valdžiusiai didžiules žemes Livonijoje, XVII a. viduryje Švedijos karalienė Kristina suteikė Nandelštato (vok. Nandelstadt) ordinaciją. Kaip tik tuo metu Umiastovskiai įsigijo žemių ir dabartinėse Lietuvos, Baltarusijos ir Lenkijos teritorijose. Svarbiausios valdos - Vilniaus gubernijai priklausiusioje Ašmenos apskrityje. Umiastovskių istorija Lietuvoje prasideda XVI a. Šioje knygoje ji atkurta pagal archyvinius duomenis1, herbų aprašymus, enciklopedinę informaciją bei paskutinės giminės palikuonės Janinos Umiastovskienės užrašus, kuriuos, pasinaudodamas grafienės slapyvardžiu Nałęcz, atskira knygele 1928 m. Vilniuje publikavo kultūros istorikas Česlovas Jankovskis (Czesław Jankowski), taip pat genealoginius žinynus bei pavienius paminėjimus šių dienų spaudoje ar internetiniuose straipsniuose. Kiek daugiau informacijos apie Umiastovskių Trakų gatvės rūmus pateikta Antano Rimvydo Čaplinsko knygoje „Vilniaus gatvių istorija. Šv. Jono, Dominikonų, Trakų gatvės“, o apie Janinos Umiastovskienės ir jos vardo fondo veiklą Italijoje galima sužinoti iš Romoje publikuotų leidinių lenkų kalba. [Iš Pratarmės]

ENLying at the crossroads of the East and the West, and founded as the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius has always been famous as an important hub of culture and science. The multi-ethnic city, which went through many conquests, fires and famines, and was both the “Jerusalem of the North” and a marginal city at the border of the Russian Empire and the Second Republic of Poland, has preserved its cultural identity. Vilnius is special both in its architecture and rich, legendary history. Its towers, palaces and courtyards keep the secrets of its sometimes glorious and sometimes mournful past. The mysterious palace standing at the corner of Trakų and Pylimo streets and bearing the coats of arms of two families, Counts Umiastowski and Ostroróg-Sadowski, is shrouded in legends. The coats of arms belonged to the last owners of the palace, Janina and Władysław Umiastowski. This book presents these two personalities, the twists and turns of their life, their achievements and patronage. The roots of the Umiastowski family go back to 13th-century Poland. Back in the 16th century, some of its representatives were related to many Lithuanian noble families and had lands in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This book presents the history of this multi-branched family through the direct line of Wladyslaw’s ancestors, whose representatives settled in the eastern part of the Duchy, which from the 18th century onwards belonged to the Vilnius Governorate of the Russian Empire, and is now divided between the territories of Lithuania and Belarus. There, the Umiastowskis owned land in the areas not too far from Dieveniškės - Klewica, Subotniki, Żemłosław and their surroundings.From the middle of the 19th century, Wladyslaw’s father, Kazimierz Umiastowski, the Marshal of the Ashmyany powiat, owned two palaces in Vilnius - on Trakų and Dominikonų streets. It was in the latter palace that the hero of this book, Władysław, was born on March 13,1833. When he turned nine, his father sent him to study in St. Petersburg. Around 1850, after graduating from the Imperial Alexander Lyceum, the young man opted for an officer’s career - he joined the hussar regiment of General Peter von der Pahlen’s Leib Guard in Grodno and served up to the rank of Staff Rittmeister. However, he soon left the military service and took up farming in the folwark his father had given him. Wladyslaw’s parents managed the Żemłosław estate very successfully: they rebuilt the manor house, founded a large park with artificial water bodies, and laid the foundations for large-scale productive farming in the estate’s folwarks. Kazimierz Umiastowski also rebuilt the palace on Trakų Street, giving it an appearance that has remained almost unchanged to this day. His mother Juzefą Umiastowska continued to take care of the Żemłosław estate. After the death of his parents and brother Albert, Władysław Umiastowski became the sole heir to all their wealth and one of the richest landowners in the region. In addition, in 1878 he became the Marshal of the Trakai powiat, and also held the position of an honorary judge in Vilnius for some time. In 1882, he bought a plot of land in Warsaw, bounded by Alee Ujazdowskie, Wilcza and Mokotowska streets, and built two four-storey houses on it. Władysław was very well educated, spoke many languages, and adored literature, poetry and arts. He went abroad every year, and travelled to Spain, England, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland and France. He felt great affinity to Paris, where he met Alexandre Dumas and his son, and had close contacts with the writer Arsene Houssaye and the historian Henry Houssaye.Legend has it that Dumas fils visited him in Żemłosław. Władysław translated the latter’s play La Dame aux camelias (1852) and the comedy Les Idees de Madame Aubrey (1867) into Polish. Both of these plays were staged at the Kraków Theatre. Approximately in 1880, Władysław met Janina Zofia Ostroróg-Sadowska, a much younger countess, at a ball in Warsaw. Janina was born on April 15, i860 in the Moszczenica estate in Łódź Voivodeship, Poland, into the family of Jan Adam Ostroróg- Sadowski and Aleksandra Pęcherzewska, who were originally from Ukraine. Janina was not less educated than Władysław, she had travelled to many European cities and spoke many languages. She impressed him not only with her beauty, but also with her intelligence. The couple married on July 15,1882 in the Church of the Nuns of the Visitation in Warsaw. After a six-month-long honeymoon, the Umiastowskis settled in Żemłosław and dedicated themselves to creating their new home - they remodelled the palace and decorated it with marble fireplaces, chandeliers, clocks, and other valuable works of applied art brought from Paris and Vienna. The Umiastowskis paid special attention to the rejuvenation of the park - a task for which they hired the Belgian landscape park specialist Jamme. The alley leading to the palace was renewed, many trees and bushes were planted, rose gardens were planted and canals were dug. The Umiatowskis called their estate Little Venice. Władysław managed the farm and the forests, shipped logs on rafts abroad, founded a sawmill, a pottery and textile workshop, a distillery and an apiary, and made traditional mead for export. He also built a post office and a telegraph in Rudnia in the vicinity of the manor. [...]. [From the publication]