Obraz życia towarzyskiego Polaków we Francji utrwalony w relacjach polskich z drugiej połowy XVIII wieku

Abstract

Journeys, especially long ones to foreign destinations, were made with the intention of gaining greater familiarity with the culture and way of life in other countries. It was undoubtedly an experience that had great influence on travellers, their personal development, their preferences and their world-view. This article is based on three different sources: the letters of Kazimierz Nestor Sapieha to his mother Elżbieta Sapieżyna, the diary of Teofila Radziwiłł Morawska, and the journals of Teofila Jabłonowska Sapieżyna. All the authors made journeys to France in the 1870s. The very centre of social life in the eighteenth-century France was the royal court at Versailles. Foreigners coming to France saw the opportunity to have an audience at the royal court as one of the most important elements of their visit. Other fashionable gathering places were the Parisian parlours of the French aristocracy. More often than not, the journeys resulted in the making of new acquaintances, which made it possible for the representatives of the Polish nobility to enter the circle of the European aristocracy.