Franciszek Smuglewicz

In 1795, Franciszek Smuglewicz made a painting commemorating the abolition of serfdom for peasants in the Vilnus manor of Pawłów and the founding of the self-governing peasant republic (1769). It was one of the first examples of the reformatory activities in Poland whose legacy was lost in the 3rd Partition of Poland. The so-called Republic of Pawłów had its own sejm, senate, constitution as well as land militia, bank, hospital and school. The experiment in Pawłów—a miniaturised execution of the idea of the comprehensive reform of society—preceded the abolition of serfdom in Poland by over 100 years.