Arcadia - a village located nearby Łowicz, in Poland, in voivodeship of Lodz, in Lowicz poviat, in the municipality Nieborów, on the Skierniewka River, by the road No. 70 Łowicz-Skierniewice. Currently (2009) it has 250 inhabitants. Originally the village was called Łupia (Lupya).
Geographic coordinates: 52 ° 04′53 ″ N 20 ° 00′28 ″ E
The first records of the village are from the 15th century. From 1446, it belonged to the Łowicz chapter. In 1777 it was bought by Helena Przeździecka (1753-1821), the wife of magnate Hieronim Radziwiłł, the owner of a nearby palace in Nieborów. And immediately, from 1778, in part of this new property of the Radziwiłłs - the village of Łupia renamed Arkadia, Helena began building a garden and park complex of the sentimental-romantic era, in the English style, composed by her until 1820, almost until her death.
In the park with an area of approx. 15 ha, an artificially dug pond with the Temple of Diana and the Aqueduct situated beautifully on its shore. There are also the Gothic House in the park, the Cave of Sybil, the House of Murgrabi, the Greek Arch, and the Sanctuary of the Archpriest with a relief of Staggi entitled "Hope feeds the Chimera." He was the main designer of Arkadia Szymon Bogumił Zug, some of the projects were authored Jan Piotr Norblin, Aleksander Orłowski, Józef Sierakowski, and later Henryk Ittar and G. Staggi. In memory of King Stanisław August Poniatowski's visit, a porphyry obelisk was built in the park.
Historical monuments. According to the IDN register of monuments (former KOBiDZ), the following objects are entered on the list of monuments:
- Radziwiłłów summer residence (park with pavilions), currently museum, developed: 4th quarter XVII-XIX, reg.No .: 205 / P-IV-3 from October 26, 1948, 91-VI-1 from January 18, 1962 and 145 from August 12, 1967. The constituent elements of the assumption are:
- park, 1783 - XIX, reg.No .: 73 / A from May 19, 1982
- Temple of Diana (with a plafond by J.P. Norblin Jutrzenk), 1783, register number: 538 from August 12, 1967
- the house of the high priest, (with a relief of G. Stagga, Hope feeding the Chimera) 1783, reg.No .: 539 from August 12, 1967
- murgrabi's house, ca. 1800, reg.no .: 540 from August 12, 1967
- stone arch (Greek Arch), 1785, reg.No .: 541 of August 12, 1967
- gothic house, early XIX, reg.no .: 542 of August 12, 1967
- arcaded gallery, ca. 1800, reg.no .: 543 from August 12, 1967
- Sybil's Cave, c. 1800, reg.no .: 544 from August 12, 1967
- aqueduct, 1744, 1950-52, reg.No .: 545 of August 12, 1967
- Circus gate, ca 1800, reg.No .: 546 from August 12, 1967
- avenue by the Arkadia-Nieborów road, registration number: 1150 from June 14, 1974
The Wall with Hermes and the Circus are also historic.
From 1873 Arkadia passed into the hands of Count Mikołaj Adlerberg, the former general governor of Finland and his wife. There were no significant changes in the Arcadian park, only in the Temple of Diana the Count set up a Catholic chapel for his wife. The Skierniewka river flows through the park, creating a pond with two artificial islands.
Next to the park, towards the Skierniewka river, where there was a wooden mill, there is a house where Maria Konopnicka stayed in the years 1893-1903 with her son Jan, a leaseholder of the Radziwiłł mills, as indicated by a wooden memorial plaque on the new wooden house. On the road from Arkadia through Nieborów to Łasiecznik there is a historic linden alley with plantings made by Helena Radziwiłł. Nieborów and Arkadia are currently under the care of the National Museum in Warsaw. In 1945, the Park in Arkadia together with the nearby park and palace complex in Nieborów became a branch of the National Museum in Warsaw. In Arkadia, there is a Mariavite cemetery from the beginning of the 20th century. The cemetery is looked after by the parish of the Blessed Sacrament in Łowicz, belonging to the Old Catholic Mariavite Church.
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