The Palace on the Isle – bird’s eye view

The origins of today’s Palace on the Isle date back to the late seventeenth century. The Bathhouse was built at the behest of Prince Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski, one of the most important politicians, writers and philosophers of the time.

The Baroque garden pavilion, designed by the Dutch architect, Tylman
van Gameren, was intended as a place for resting, leisure and
contemplation. The interiors of the Bathhouse were stylized on a grotto
with a spring which symbolized the Hippocrene, a fountain on Mount
Helicon in ancient Greece, which was the source of poetic inspiration
for the Muses.

In 1764, when looking for a place in which to build his summer
residence, King Stanisław August purchased the Bathhouse together with
the Ujazdowski estate. Thanks to two architects – the Italian born
Domenico Merlini and Johann Christian Kammsetzer, who was born in
Dresden – the King transformed the Baroque Bathhouse pavilion into the
neoclassical Palace on the Isle. Modelled on Italian architectural
solutions, such as the Villa Borghese, Villa Albani, Villa Medici and
Villa Ludovisi, it was intended to symbolize the dream of an ideal,
modern and sovereign state.