Nieznane materiały źródłowe dotyczące rodziny Wojtychów, ogrodników na usługach Potockich z Krzeszowic w latach 1831–1927
Unknown Primary Source Materials Related to the Wojtych Family of Gardeners in the Service of the Potockis of Krzeszowice, in 1831–1927

Summary/Abstract: The article presents unpublished primary source materials from the holdingsof the Cracow branch of the National Archives, the Garden Papers of the Wojtych Familyfrom Krzeszowice, 1831–1927. The main document in the collection, the Family History, waswritten down by Jan Wojtych (1865–1942) in 1924. It chronicles the work of three generationsof a family of gardeners, over a span of almost a hundred years, whose members in successionwere in the service of the Potockis from Krzeszowice tending their gardens. The oldestmember of the family, Franciszek, became the main gardener in the Krzeszowice estate ofCount Andrzej Potocki on the strength of a contract signed on 1 January 1832. He broughtnumerous alterations into the grounds, starting, for example, the cultivation of lemons andoranges, previously unknown in the area. He was supposed to begin the development ofa landscape garden in the vicinity of the new palace, which was eventually completed byhis son Adolf, who had been working along with his father since 1849. Franciszek’s successorwas trained in the Jagiellonian University’s botanical garden in Cracow and in thefamous nursery in Medyka. Particularly interesting are archival materials attesting to Adolf ’seducation and training as gardener in the most important nurseries in Europe. Beforetaking his post at Krzeszowice, Adolf trained in Penzing, Vienna, Brunn am Gebirge, inEmil Liebig’s company in Dresden, in the higher school of pomology – the PomologischesInstitut in Reutlingen in Württemberg, in the Platz & Sohn company in Erfurt, at the Écoled’Horticulture de Versailles in Paris, and at the Horticulture Internationale in Brussels. Thedocuments preserved in this archival collection are a valuable source of information onthe high level of expertise of gardeners employed by an aristocratic family.

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