Spiritual notes

In the Chinese Apartment on the first floor, amidst the nostalgic atmosphere of the past, young Julia Potocka, daughter of Princess Izabella née Czartoryska, spends her time writing love letters to her beloved, Eustachy Sanguszko. Despite a difficult relationship with her mother and an unhappy marriage to Count Jan Potocki, Julia finds joy in love and patriotic activity. Her life, marked by both beauty and tragedy, ultimately leads to dramatic events that will forever change the fate of the lovers.

In the Chinese Apartment on the first floor, a beautiful young woman in a white muslin dress can be seen. She sits at an antique writing desk, running a quill pen over the paper. Her beautifully curled blond curls are held by a white ribbon, contrasting with the red roses pinned to them. She is the youngest daughter of Łańcut's former owner, Princess Izabella Lubomirska, née Czartoryska. Julia Potocka, as she did in life, writes love letters to her beloved, Eustachy Sanguszko. To him alone she owed the only moments of happiness in her short life

She suffered because her mother didn't love her or her sisters. Apparently, Izabella felt a hysterical hatred for her daughters, simply because they weren't born boys. Besides, the girls, though polite, intelligent, and lively, were—it couldn't be denied—ugly. And Izabella, despite her exceptionally short stature, was classically beautiful and tolerated only beautiful people and things in her presence. In her own way, she cared for her daughters. She engaged the most expensive tutors, dressed the girls up like dolls, but refused to have them around. It's no wonder, then, that she didn't notice her youngest daughter transform from a chrysalis into a beautiful butterfly...

Almost overnight, she stopped stooping, had a wasp waist, and her squint (so pronounced in her sisters) only added to her charm. And her complexion! She didn't need to use whitening or rouge. No one suspected that her charming blush was a symptom of tuberculosis, a disease inherited from her father. The "great world," enchanted by her, nicknamed her "beautiful Juliet"—in Italian, Giulietta la bella.

And this eighteen-year-old beauty was married off by her mother to Count Jan Potocki – a famous traveler, scholar, and eccentric, later author of "The Saragossa Manuscript." The marriage was not a happy one. Her husband, almost twice her age, had wide-ranging interests and... poor contact with reality. For example, he could enter a salon full of guests of both sexes in an Adam's costume. He dressed strangely, rarely shaved, and cut his own hair! He was constantly traveling (he was called Jan Wędrowniczek), always accompanied by the Turk Ibrahim. And the lonely Julia found solace in her two sons, as charming as she was.

Her beauty continued to inspire widespread admiration, and poets praised her dancing and... her fidelity to her husband. An unfashionable fidelity, we might add. Most beautiful women changed lovers like gloves. But she—not! She filled the void in her life with acting in amateur theater and... patriotic activities. In 1792, she met Tadeusz Kościuszko in Paris, who was there on a mission. His mission was to convince the revolutionary government to send a French corps of aid in the event of an uprising in Poland. Julia aided him in this, leveraging her contacts and connections with French politicians.

In underground circles, she met a young, handsome, brunette, Prince Eustachy Sanguszko (1768-1844). He was unlike other socialites. To save his family fortune, he had to join the Russian army, but he was a fervent patriot.

It was true love. Everyone knew about it, no one was outraged, least of all her husband. Eustachy took part in the Kościuszko Uprising (1794) as a division commander. At Szczekociny, he saved the life of Commander Kościuszko himself! Julia went to her mother in Łańcut. Ever weaker, increasingly ill, she sat at the desk in the Chinese Apartment, writing letter after letter to her beloved.

In August, Eustachy was wounded near Barlice. He had no idea that his beloved had died suddenly that same day while in Kraków. But—as he later noted—"extraordinary restlessness and frightening dreams foretold a cruel blow that would fulfill its destiny and rob me of what I valued most in the world."

News of Julia's death quickly reached Warsaw. Eustachy learned of it from the king and Prince Józef Poniatowski. And—though the roads were cut off—he decided to reach Kraków to verify whether his beloved was truly dead. Kościuszko granted him leave of absence. Disguised as a townsman, he slipped through the enemy guards at night. He risked hanging if captured, as the Russians considered him a deserter!

Changing horses along the way, he reached Krakow. And... he came across a funeral procession with Giulietta's coffin, heading for St. Mary's Church. With the help of a priest he knew, he reached the tomb. "They lowered the gravestone behind me, and feeling free, I lifted the coffin lid," he recalled years later. "A faint ray of day, falling through the grate, illuminates her beautiful face (...). She seemed alive to me, only sleeping. I called her by name, awakened her with the most tender incantations, certain that my voice would revive her." He did not. "In a frenzy of despair, I pressed my lips to hers... and then I understood what death was." The next day, the fainted young man was carried from the crypt...

And how can you not write love letters to such a lover - even after death?