The Neo-Baroque and Neo-Rococo Goetz-Okocimski Palace was built near the Okocim brewery in 1898–1900 by Jan Albin Goetz, more widely known as Jan Goetz Okocimski, and his wife Zofia Jadwiga née Countess Sumińska. The Goetz family called it the “New Palace” to distinguish it from the “Old Palace,” which had been built on the brewery grounds by Jan Albin’s father, Jan Ewangelista Goetz.
The palace played a significant role during the Great War. In early 1915, following the stabilization of the front line on the Dunajec River, the headquarters of the 4th Austrian Army, which was quartered in the Goetz Palace in Okocim, had aviation units at its disposal. A month after the recapture of Brzesko, these were relocated to previously prepared airfields.
The airfields at Jasień and Okocim, as well as at Bochnia and Biadoliny Radłowskie, served as wartime field airfields used by Austro-Hungarian aviation units during the first half of 1915.
The airfield at Jasień played a particularly important role, as most of the aviation companies operating on the Galician front were based there for several months, most courier flights to the besieged Fortress of Przemyśl departed from there, and the first aircraft equipped with radio stations were stationed there. A smaller, auxiliary airfield was located in Okocim, on fields adjacent to the park surrounding Baron Goetz-Okocimski’s palace, along the road from Brzesko to Nowy Sącz. The aviators were also quartered in the palace.
