In the 17th century, a grand international tour became an essential culmination and crowning of the process of educating a young person. A journey was the last stage of educating European elites and its purpose was to acquire knowledge and skills and discover the world and foreign countries with their culture, customs and languages. Young English, French and Italian people undertook such journeys. The nobility and magnates of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth also peregrinated to the West of Europe and visited France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and England. During such journey, young people visited foreign universities, courts, academies and military camps. A young nobleman was expected to learn the necessary experience and good manners as a result of such tour.
The main focus and most popular destination of the grand tour was France and Paris. A typical itinerary of the tour developed in the 16th century: Germany - France - Italy; the same itinerary existed also in the 17th century, but Paris gradually gained in rank in this canon. In time, a division developed into le grand and le petit tour. Paris was a fixed item on the routes of Baroque travellers and it invariably occupied a special position on the maps and itineraries of peregrinators at the times of Jan III Sobieski. A trip to Paris or Rome "to see worthy places and things" became a permanent element of the educational canon and an important factor affecting the future career and participation in public affairs, and at the same time it highlighted the rank and prestige of a family.
In 1680, the young son of Sieradz Voivode, Stanisław Wierzbowski, soon after his arrival in the capital of France, tried to report his experiences and impressions from his trip in his journal, and he also wrote about the city itself: "I am not going to describe Paris, as so much has already been written about it. All I want to say is that this city is full of all sorts of delicacies. You want to be a saint? You can do that, because you will find here so many opportunities and people who can be your role models. There are so many churches of our Lord, pious monasteries, libraries and schools here. The Sorbonne will make you a doctor of philosophy. You want to be an evil person? Here, you will quickly find companions who will spoil your body and soul. You want to graze your eyes? You will find beautiful people, palaces, gardens, gallantry, excellent paintings, tasty and delicate food, subtle comedies and operas - especially operas, and the Versailles garden, which will arouse passion in you." The same like the abovementioned son of Sieradz Voivode, many other young noblemen and magnates during Jan III Sobieski's rule travelled to the banks of the Seine River and spent a few weeks, months and even years in Paris; so the letters and travel journals and memoirs of those times could not do without thoughts and reflections about the city.
In late 1684, the Jabłonowski brothers - the future Rus Voivode Jan Stanisław and the future Grand Chorąży (standard-bearer) of the Crown Aleksander Jan, sons of Stanisław Jan Jabłonowski, bearer of the Prus III coat of arms, Krakow Castellan and Grand Hetman of the Crown and Maria Anna nee Kazanowski, arrived in Paris, while on their grand tour of Europe. Many other citizens of the Commonwealth were staying in Paris at the same time: the future Bełz Voivode, Grand Hetman of the Crown and Krakow Castellan Adam Mikołaj Sieniawski, son of Kamieniec Castellan Stefan Potocki, Nowe Miasto Starosta (senior) Jan Lanckoroński, sons of Vilnius Voivode – Michał Franciszek and Aleksander Paweł Sapieha, and sons of Michał Kazimierz Radziwiłł and Katarzyna nee Sobieski – dukes Jerzy Józef and Karol Stanisław Radziwiłł.
The most elaborate accounts in travel journals of Poles visiting France in those times concern visits to almost all Paris churches. Apart from temples, other important topics in those journals were the grand palaces in Paris, the Louvre and the Luxembourg Palace. Visiting Paris was synonymous with visiting the Versailles, as it was unimaginable in those times that an educational journey could omit the court of Louis XIV. Parental advice and instructions written specifically for journeys inevitably told the traveller how to behave at the French court. For the young people, it was obvious that they had to see Louis XIV during their grand tour or any other trip. The theatre and opera were other kinds of entertainment popular among all peregrinators. The diaries and memoirs of young travellers contain numerous reports of frequent visits to French theatres. Whenever staying in Paris, Polish travellers took advantage of numerous events, spectacles and performances organised in the city, such as the frequently celebrated entries of missions and exotic legations, which were also reported in travel journals and letters.
Being in Paris was an important life experience for every traveller. Visits to top class sacred buildings and royal residencies and participation in lively cultural life broadened the knowledge and shaped artistic sensitivity, refined the tastes and aroused interest in the broadly understood culture and art, which undoubtedly had positive and far-reaching consequences for the future public activity and private life back in the lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Translation: Lingua Lab
