History of the Manor House in Kociszew

In 1935, Wiktor Hłasko, the representative of the Group of French Oil, Industrial and Trade Societies – Małopolska,  became the owner of the estate in Kociszew. The Manor House was built between 1935-1936, and was designed by Stefan Majewski. It is built on the plan of an elongated rectangle. From the front, it is characterized by a four-column, wall portico, which supports a triangular gable, where a cartouche with the Leliwa coat of arms was placed. A ceramic Madonna is embedded above the door. It was a characteristic element of the decoration of the 1930s. At the back of the building, there is a central avant-corps, closed in a semicircle, and in front of it, there is a two-level, open terrace with stairs leading to the park. The mansion is surrounded by a park with ponds. During World War II, Wehrmacht  soldiers were stationed in the Manor. It is precisely this period that is associated with the legend that one of the German officers saw a flock of swans by the pond, went out, and started shooting at the birds. Only one swan survived this massacre, and it fled away. From that moment on, swans never appeared in the park again. Currently, the manor house and park constitute the Training and Recreation Center of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, while the nearby land is managed by the Agricultural Experimental Station of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences – Wilanów-Obory.