Mogilany

Mogilany is situated in the top of the Mogilany Hill, the highest elevation in this part of  the plateau known as Płaskowyż Świątnicki. From the hilltop one can admire a spectacular panorama of the mountains and a view of Kraków. National road no. 7 (Zakopianka) runs through the Mogilany Municipality.
Due to the proximity to the capital city, royal guards stationed here until the end of the 12th century. The locality was on the route to Hungary and Southern Europe, and for this reason it was a favourite place of magnates who built their residences here. For over 300 years Mogilany was a property of the Cistercians to whom Mogilnie residents owe their first wooden church and the establishment of a parish. Later the property often passed from one owner to another, among whom  Wawrzyniec Spytko Jordan should not be missed. Captivated by Mogilany, he built here a wooden Renaissance palace in the years 1560-1567. Spytko Jordan was known to be a patron of arts, literature and science. He hosted  Mikołaj Rej, the political writer Stanisław Orzechowski and the printer Maciej Wierzbięta in his palace. Unfortunately, only some relics of the Renaissance park and a beautiful hornbeam avenue have survived of Spytko’s estate. After his death, the Mogilany estate passed again through the hands of various owners. One of them, Mikołaj Borek, founded the church which replaced the wooden one in 1604. The church is still to be seen here. In 1802, Józef  Nowina Konopka bought Mogilany which remained in the hands of the Konopka family until the outbreak of the Second World War. The family greatly changed the locality. The manor house was remodelled, the parish school was transformed into a popular school, the Voluntary Fire Service, the Agricultural Club and the Saving Company were established. Among particularly active members of the Konopka family was Józef, a  descendant of the first owner of the estate of that family. A factory manufacturing farming machines and tools was established on his initiative, the post office and the new school opened (the latter was used as a hospital during the First World War). In the inter-war period a new firehouse was built and the construction of the “New Zakopianka” road started. After 1945, the Mogilany estate was nationalized, along with the Konopka family manor. The Polish Red Cross opened a holiday house for the disabled in the former manor house. Later it housed a municipal cooperative and a kindergarten. In 1967, the manor was much deteriorated and was transferred to the Polish Academy of Sciences.