On December 12, 2025, the ceremonial opening of the restored ground floor of the Palace in Turew took place, completed with funding from Most the Most Foundation. The event was hosted by the Deputy Director for Cooperation, Agnieszka Konrad, who welcomed the present guests, including a representative of Most the Most Foundation, Ms. Martyna Krawczonek-Kosior.

The ceremony was attended by representatives of the IBCH PAS Directorate, the Chair of the IBCH PAS Scientific Council, the management of the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center (PCSS), staff from IBCH PAS and PCSS, retired professors of the Institute, as well as members of the local community and representatives of partner institutions collaborating with the Palace, including the Legion Theater Association, the Zakłady Kórnickie Foundation, and the Palace in Winna Góra.

Local government representatives also participated in the event: Mr. Artur Opas, Starosta of Kościan County (head of the county); Mr. Jan Szczepaniak, Chair of the Kościan Municipality Council; Mr. Mirosław Mądry, Chair of the Commission for Economic Activity, Budget, and Finance of the Kościan Municipality Council; Mr. Tomasz Klema, Councilor of Kościan Municipality; and Ms. Maria Prałat, Sołtys of Turew (village head).

During the ceremony, the Director of the Institute, Luiza Handschuh, PhD, DSc, Assoc. Prof., presented a brief history of the Palace in Turew within the structure of IBCH PAS. In her speech, she expressed gratitude to the individuals and institutions involved in the renovation, operation, and development of the Palace, its promotion, fundraising efforts, and the restoration of its former glory.

The event was enriched by a performance from the Poznań Chamber Choir of the Polish Academy of Sciences, conducted by Dr. Alicja Szeluga, who presented a repertoire inspired by the upcoming Christmas holidays.

The next part of the program featured a screening of a short film titled “The walls speak: The history of the ground floor of the Palace in Turew“, directed by Dr. Magdalena Baranowska-Szczepańska. In the film, Sylwia Sobczyk, Head of the Turew Team, recounted the history of the Palace and the daily lives of its former residents, highlighting the economic role of the ground floor, which once bustled with the activities of the palace staff and now takes on a new social function as a heritage site open to the local community. The revitalized monument is planned to become an external branch of the IBCH PAS Center for Innovation and Social Education—serving as a space that connects the past with the present and future, history with modernity, and the experiences of previous centuries with contemporary scientific achievements.

During the ceremony, the Foundation Most the Most presented the Palace with a sculpture of Helena Łubieńska and a symbolic horseshoe as a token of good wishes. Additionally, Professor Paweł Chmielarz from the Institute of Dendrology PAS in Kórnik, who was unable to attend, donated a Rus Oak clone—one of the oldest oaks in Poland. The tree was propagated in vitro at the Institute of Dendrology PAS, where a method for cloning pedunculate oaks was developed. The cloned oak has the same genotype in both its shoots and roots as the parent tree. Following conservation consultations, it will be planted in the historic palace park.

The guests then moved in front of the Palace for the symbolic ribbon-cutting and the official opening of the renovated ground floor. In the Palace’s hall and corridor, thanks to the support of Prof. Maciej Mycielski, grandson of Krzysztof Morawski, the last pre-war owner of Turew, an exhibition titled “Turwia: People, Places, Everyday Life“ was prepared. The exhibition features photographs from family albums, depicting the daily life of the Palace’s inhabitants a century ago. The exhibition was created by Arkadiusz Margraf, Sylwia Sobczyk, and Agnieszka Konrad.

We sincerely thank all guests for attending the ceremony and celebrating the completion of the renovation of the Palace’s ground floor in Turew.

The renovation work was carried out with funding from Most the Most Foundation.