English: Gdów Manor, reduced in size from the original construction and formerly referred to as Fihauser Manor (more recently as ‘Dwór Habichtów’ or ‘Dwór Bednarskich’) is situated on the outskirts of Gdów. According to local historian, Franciszek Daniel, under King Stanisław August Poniatowski, in 1782, Duchess Maria née Radziwiłł née Lubomirski sold the entire estate to the widow of Idzi Fihauser, Elżbieta Celińska. Their son Antoni Fihauser (1763-1810) settled on the estate and with wife Anastasia had two sons, Karol and Henryk (1801-1858), and three daughters. Son Henryk became the successor of the estate and along with others associated with the estate played an important role during the Kraków Uprising of 1846 as well as during the January Uprising of 1863. Henryk Fihauser and his wife Eleonora Wojnarowicz had two sons, Alfred and Czesław and four daughters Wanda, Róża, Stanisława and Bogumiła. Wanda's daughter married Wilhelm (one of the organizers of the Kraków Uprising and a member of the National Government). Her brothers, Alfred and Czesław Fihauser, participated in the uprising in 1863 during which Alfred (1845-1863) was killed and Czesław (1848-1867) severely wounded. Until 1910, Henryk's unmarried daughter Stanisława lived on the estate. Her sister Wanda, wife of Wilhelm Habicht, who died in 1898, had sons Kazimierz (later a general, a doctor of the Polish Army and the owner of the estate in the interwar period) and Ernest (a lawyer and national activist). General-doctor Kazimierz Habicht and his wife Ada née Jakeszów had two sons, Kazimierz and Mieczysław, and a daughter Wanda Teresa. The general, who led a medical practice in Kraków and was awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta, died in 1943. Daughter Wanda Teresa married in 1947 and was succeeded on the estate by her eldest daughter Małgorzata Bednarska (a great horse lover and breeder).
Among historic paintings and other historic artifacts the Manor hosts a portrait painting of Eleonora Fihauser née Lanckorońska (1777-1850) - this painting bears a strong resemblance to a portrait of Katarzyna Potocka, née Branicka (1825-1907) painted by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. In 1805 Eleonora married Andrzej Fihauser (1765-1828), brother of Antoni and heir to the Manor at Fałkowice, son of Idzi and Elżbieta Marynowska (m 1750) and grandson of Walenty Fihauser and Barbara Trzebuchowska. Eleonora, daughter of a rich count of coat of arms Zadora, was a generous patron of the Gdów Church and funded the major extension undertaken by ks Ludwik Kusionowicz (who chronicled the historic Battle of Gdów in 1846) as well as the building of the Cemetery Chapel under which both Eleonora and Ludwik are buried in a ‘hidden crypt’. The building of the chapel remote from the town is speculated to have been deliberate in order that Polish insurgents could secretly meet ahead of the Kraków Uprising in the crypt which is rumoured to have been connected by undergound tunnels to hidden entrances around the cemetery. The Fihauser family financial support of the church ensued from their purchase of the Fałkowice Estate from Maria Lubomirska in 1782, the Lubomirski family also being generous benefactors throughout generations of its distinguished history. Notably, while the Fihauser and Habicht families both had German ancestries, their descendants also fought valiantly for Poland’s independence.
The Scotch Mist Gallery contains photographs of historic buildings, monuments, memorials and people of Poland.