The castle in Gołuchów is a primary, early-Renaissance brick construction of a defensive character. It has several floors and was built on a square floor plan, with towers in each corner. The castle was built in the years 1550-1560 for Rafał Leszczyński (the starost of the radziejowicki poviat and voivode of the brzesko-kujawskie voivodeship) in Gołuchów. A modernisation - building on a residential building to the original court and joining both with wings, as well as building an arcaded loggia in the entrance elevation - was conducted in the years 1600-1619 at the order of Wacław Leszczyński, voivode of the kaliskie voivodeship and Great Chancellor of the Crown (he was the son of Rafał Leszczyński and inherited the castle in 1592). That was when the castle started to have a Renaissance-Mannerist character of a magnate residence.

In 1695 the Leszczyński family sold Gołuchów to the Suszka family. Later, the castle has changed owners frequently (the families of Górowscy, Chlebowscy, Swinarscy, Suchorzewscy) and gradually fell into disrepair. In 1856 (according to some sources in 1853) Tytus Działyński, due to the upcoming wedding of his son Jan Kanty with Izabella Działyńska of the Czartoryski family (the daughter of Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski), bought what was left of Gołuchów, with the intention to make it the newlyweds' residence. The marriage had been arranged and was a "white marriage".

Because Jan Działyński financed and organised the January uprising in Great Poland, its fall and the sentencing default on Działyński entered by Prussian authorities (not reversed until 1871) have forced him to emigrate. In order to protect Gołuchów against confiscation, Izabella has formally bought the castle from the Działyński family (de facto, the castle was a pledge on loans given to Działyński by the Czartoryski family) and in the years 1875-1885 she conducted a complete reconstruction, together with a renovation. The reconstruction was conducted partly according to

Viollet-le-Duca sketches and partly - a Polish architect - Zygmunt Gorgolewski's. The author of the final project was a Frenchman - Maurice August Ouradou.

During the reconstruction the oldest part of the castle was not rebuilt, which opened a view on the arcaded yard. Marble fireplaces, window-frames and inlays imported from Italy, France and Spain, as well as reproduced on spot, have been fitted. The castle, not losing anything from its original, Renaissance features, gained a Romantic character.

In the castle interior decorations and furnishings, Izabella emphasised the connections of Gołuchów with the Leszczyński family by placing Wieniawa (the Leszczyński coat of arms), often with a crown, in many visible places, such as above the fireplaces. Paradoxically, King Stanisław Leszczyński has never stayed in Gołuchów.

The castle is surrounded by a 162-hectare English park, designed by Adam Kubaszewski, with many rare and exotic trees (evidence of the dendrological passion of the Działyński family, which was fully manifested in Kórnik). In the park there is also a mausoleum-sepulchral chapel (former the Saint John the Baptist chapel), where the founder - Elżbieta Izabella Działyńska of the Czartoryski family - is buried.

The reconstructed castle, where Izabella placed her collection of works of art, became a museum open for the public. Herself, she lived in the nearby annex (a former distillery) - the so called Czartoryski palace.

After Izabella's death in 1899, the property, transformed into a maioratus [1] (together with the obligation of looking after the museum), was inherited by her nephew - Prince Adam Ludwik Czartoryski. Gołuchów has remained in the hands of the Czartoryski family until the outbreak of World War II. During the War, the collection of the works of art dispersed and the castle was partially destroyed.

Since 1951 in the castle there has been a department of the Poznan National Museum, with an exhibition of historic interiors and works of art. Among these is a part of Jan Działyński's collection of ancient Greek vases from excavations in Noli, Capua and Naples (the so called Gołuchów vases). The annex hosts the Forestry Museum and a restaurant.

[1] ordynacja in Polish - the estate was not divided among heirs but entirely inherited by the eldest son, majorat

fot. www.pl.wikipedia.org