Exterior view
by LOCCI, Augustyn, Photo
In 1677, King Jan III Sobieski bought the land and turned an existing manor house into an Italian Baroque villa fit for a royal summer residence (calling it in Italian ‘villa nuova’, from which the Polish name is derived).
Along with Tylman van Gameren, the royal architect was Augustyn Locci, who turned the former manor house at Wilan�w, about 13 kilometers south of Warsaw, into a splendid palatial ensemble with pavilions and flanking galleries framed with two-story towers. On the advice of Andreas Schl�ter, and following his designs, the central elevation was raised in 1692.