Gogolewo is a knightly village located 4 km north of Książ Wielkopolski. It derives its name from the gogolewo duck. The above proves that there were a lot of old deciduous forests in the surroundings of the village, as this type of duck nests in tree hollows, very quiet places, and such conditions prevailed in the past centuries in the surroundings of Gogolewo. The forests, now mostly coniferous, and the peculiar tranquillity have been preserved in Gogolev’s surroundings to this day.
The first historical mention of Gogolewo dates back to 1149, when Sędziwoj donated Gogolewo to the monastery of St. Vincent in Wroclaw. In later centuries, Gogolewo was the heritage of the ancient family of Doliw from Rozdrażewo. The representative of this family, who signed his name Paszek of Gogolewo, was a chamberlain of Kalisz, later judge of Poznan, and owner of Gogolewo, Lutogniewo, Rozdrazewo and Kepa from 1392 to 1425.
The aforementioned Paszek built the first wooden church in Gogolev, dedicated to Saints John the Evangelist and Stanislaus. This church was consecrated on 23 October 1390. Subsequently, for about 200 years until 1640, the owners of Gogolewo were the Rozdrażewski family – Jarosław, Jan, Wacław and their descendants. Later owners were the Mielińscy, Cieleccy, Grzymułtowski, Grabowski families, from whom Ludwik Skrzetuski purchased the estate in the mid-18th century.
At that time, or more precisely in 1777, the temple in Gogolev burned down as a result of a lightning strike. In 1779, a new wooden Baroque church was built, which has survived unchanged to the present day. The church was built on a small hill by a bend in the River Warta, at a place where, according to legend, a cross stopped flowing against the river’s current. This event was perceived as a sign from God and motivated the locals to build a temple. To commemorate this event, the church’s name was changed to Elevation of the Holy Cross.
In the difficult years of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries for Poland, it was of great importance for the local people that the services held in the temple and the holy sacraments administered were in Polish. As a result, the faithful, who felt themselves to be Polish, often came to the village from very far away. This temple, in those days, became a kind of cradle of Polishness.
A historic manor house from the end of the 18th century, an example of Polish classicist architecture, situated on a quadrilateral plan. The single-storey building is set on beautiful vaulted cellars (the manor has a basement in ¾), covered with a high hipped roof with a usable attic section, with a four-column portico topped with a triangular tympanum. Originally the driveway and entrance to the manor house was from the south and led through the manor yard. The manor house was rebuilt in the middle of the 19th century to separate the farm buildings from the landowner’s residence, in accordance with the Polish tradition of the time.
The residential complex includes a small country park with several centuries-old trees (English ash, red oak, pedunculate oak and a beautiful small-leaved linden in the immediate vicinity of the manor house).
The manor house is set out on a rectangular plan measuring 20 m x 10 m, with classical proportions, one-storey with beautiful vaulted cellars, covered with a high hipped roof with a usable attic area. The Manor House’s light-coloured façade with grey rustications around the windows and wooden window frames is just a preview of a visit to Gogolewo Manor House.
