The multi-dimensional cooperation between Count Władysław Zamoyski and St. Albert Chmielowski is an important fragment of Zakopane’s tradition. Their activity marked the period of the development of the town, which was on its way to becoming not only a famous spa, but also a centre of the Polish spiritual and political life. Owing to Zamoyski’s assistance, St. Albert erected a hermitage at the foot of the Tatra Mountains, which hosted some eminent artists from the Young Poland period. In line with the vision of Zakopane consistently implemented by Zamoyski, the sanctuary of prayer and contemplation was an indispensable element. There are testimonies according to which Count Zamoyski felt a monastic vocation and discussed the issue with the founder of the Albertine Brothers. St. Albert’s refusal to allow him to go resulted from his belief that Zamoyski’s economic activity was particularly beneficial from the social point of view, promoting not only civilizational but also spiritual progress. The cooperation of the two outstanding figures is without any doubt one of the most significant threads of Polish culture at the turn of the 20th century.

The inscription “I am the Polish manor house, which fi ghts bravely and guards faithfully”, placed above the entry to the manor houses in the 19th century, suggested that in the face of the catastrophe of the state, the house has become a shelter of tradition. This belief was verifi ed by writers creating their works aft er the January Uprising, such as Michał Bałucki; but it was Eliza Orzeszkowa who presented the motif of the annihilation of a family seat most perfectly in her novella Śmierć domu [Death of the House]. In her poetic description, the author showed the transformation of the house into a grave. It is worth to recall Orzeszkowa’s last literary idea in this context. She shared it with Eugenia Żmijewska, who edited it as a novella Dwa spotkania [Two Meetings]. The romantic plot starts near a devastated, sealed Polish manor house. Theoretically speaking, the love between a Russian aristocrat and an insurgent’s widow could save the house, but it is also in this case that the destruction becomes unavoidable. The process of destruction was also described by Maria Rodziewiczówna in her novel Pożary i zgliszcza [Fires and Smoking Ruins]. Numerous images of the endangered or lost manor house express the [Poles’] awareness of the end of a certain form of Polish identity after 1864.