Architectural monuments

The most typical elements of the regional village architecture are red brick buildings of a “rough-hewn” shape, with stone foundations, and eaveless, red-tiled roofs. In some villages and settlements have remains of urban systems. Old villages are most commonly concentrated along one or several roads, however some have oval shapes. There are four historical buildings of a half-timbered construction in the heart of the Park, within the picturesque Ostrowiec settlement. They were built for forest labourers in the 1880’s and 90’s in the typical north-German style. They are situated at the apex of the road. They have pine wood framework with the areas between the timbers made of brick and covered with white plaster. The roofs are made of wood and have the so-called “bull’s eye” dormer windows.

Some interesting architectural objects in the area are:

Drawno:

• 3-14th century gothic church, rebuilt in the 15th, 17th, and 19th century. Inside: monumental 1696 altar, Baroque font and pulpit from the 18th century. Adjacent: half-timbered tower from the end of the 18th century;
• Former court building, old school, pastor’s quarters;
• Half-timbered manor from the 19th century, with a tall gable roof with pediments;
• Artesian wells;
• Ruins of a gothic-renaissance Wedels’ castle from the 14-16th century. Only the walls’ corners remain on the castle hill;
• An eclectic postal building;
• A cemetery from the beginning of the 20th century with valuable old standing timber;
• Historical urban system of the town.

Barnimie:

• Gothic field-stone church (presently plastered) from the 12th century, rebuilt in the 15th century. Adjacent is a wooden bell-tower covered with tall shingled dome, added in the 18th century. Inside: a renaissance pulpit from the year 1600, main altar built in 1608, and a neo-gothic font from the end of the 19th century. Its apse and vestibule were added in the year 1900. The organ prospect and gallery come from that period, too. The church also holds a baroque tombstone of a German pastor who died in 1670, as well as two other tombstones from the 19th century;
• Remains of a manorial estate: a park with an area of approx. 7ha, from the first half of the 19th century, with a vast glade in the central part, where once stood the mansion. The only surviving buildings are the annex and the gate, both from the 19th century. In the park there are ornamental and monumental trees (the most attractive – American tulip tree, some old oaks, copper beech trees, and Canadian pine). The park is characterized by a very interesting special plan.

Borowiec:

• A park/palace establishment, a hunting mansion of a varied shape from the beginning of the 20th century, presently a hotel for foreign-currency hunters;
• An old manor courtyard with two remaining industrial buildings from the end of the 19th century.

Dominikowo:

• A Romanesque field-stone church from the beginning of the 14th century, rebuilt in the 17th, with a tasseled vestibule and a free-standing square based bell tower. It’s covered with a pavilion hip-roof. The bell dates to the year 1630. The nave is covered with a beam ceiling. Inside there is valuable mannerist equipment from the beginning of the 17th century: the main altar from 1610, with low reliefs, a pulpit and organ gallery suspended on two columns, with a balustrade decorated in polychrome style. The organ prospect comes from the end of the 17th century, and the pewter font from the 18th.
• Brick building from the turn of the 20th century.

Konotop:

• Ruins of a baroque mansion from the second half of the 18th century;
• A vast landscape park from the 20th century with huge “Amber” oaks, and an ancestral 19th century cemetery with tomb ruin.

Niemieńsko:

• Stone/brick industrial buildings from the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century;
• An 1880 alcohol distillery – still in business;
• A hunting manor, commonly called “the palace”, built in the years 1922-30 in the so-called German neo-renaissance style. Its splendid edifice of red brick and varied shape consists of a two storey main body and a one storey perpendicular wing. It’s covered with gable roofs with dormer-windows and skylights. Adjacent do the main body is an octohedral scenic tower, and to the south wing another, a shorter one. On the southern side of the manor one finds a wide scenic terrace. Presently the building serves as an educational center for children.

Podegrodzie:

• Manorial estate: a modest manor from the second half of the 19th century, a 2,68ha park with a pond dating to the beginning of the 20th century, and stone/brick industrial buildings from the second half of the 19th century. Growing in the park, among others, are Douglas spruce, Californian fir, and copper beech trees.

Głusko:

• A building originally raised as a brewery, later rebuilt as a neo-gothic church. Made of brick, with a large tower, formerly protestant, presently a Roman-catholic church. In the year 1900 it was furnished with two bells made by G. Collier of Zehlendorf. This church, along with two others in Żółwino and Stare Osieczno, is considered the loveliest brick objects in the Drawa national Park and its surroundings;
• A square manor with an interior courtyard, build by von Sydow. Only the eastern and central wings remain from the original building. A new manor was built in the beginning of the 20th century to replace the western wing. Before the Second World War this manor served as a forest school, presently – as quarters of the Głusko forest inspectorate.

Stare Osieczno:

• A neo-gothic octohedral burnt-brick church from 1867, reminiscent of the Lord’s Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Churches based on this kind of a layout used to be built in the middle ages. The sole sponsor of such a church would receive an absolution, comparable to what be the prize for a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Tuczno:

• Castle – formerly the residence of the Tuczno Wedels, presently hotel and a creative work home for the Association of Polish Architects. It consists of three wings that provide a u-shape around a square courtyard, open to the north. Three small turrets were place in the corners. The building of this gothic castle was started by the Wedels in 1338, most probably in the place of an old stronghold, on a hill surrounded at three sides by wetlands, difficult to cross. The original construction had square layout of 30x30m. Around 1580 the castle was rebuilt in the late-renaissance style, expanded in the years 1608-31 with its southern and western wings, and reshaped into a baroque manorial residence in the 18th century. In mid-19th century a new western wing was added. Partially destroyed, it was rebuilt in the years 1966-76 in the renaissance style of the early 17th century