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The Ethnographic Museum
The Panorama of Racławice
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 > silesian art 12th-16th c.                                                                   The Road to Golgotha, Wrocław workshop, 1500
 
P e r m a n e n t   e x h i b i t i o n s

SILESIAN ART 12TH- 16TH  
 

     The sarcophagus of

Duke Henry IV Probus -

the lid, Wrocław,

the Holy Cross Church,

around 1300-1320        

 The display accumulates mainly sculptures originated as architectural decoration and funerary monuments.

 

Particularly noteworthy are: dated to the 12thcentury Romanesque tympanum (probably from the portal of the Benedictine Ołbin Abbey) and tombs of Silesian princes from the Piast dynasty, among others one of the most precious works of Gothic art in Poland, the sarcophagus of Duke Henry IV Probus of Wrocław (d. 1290), with preserved rich polychromy. Originally located in the collegiate Holy Cross Church in Wrocław, during the Second World War it was removed from the city. Found in Wierzbna near Świdnica in 1946, the tomb monument was subsequently placed in the Museum.

 

A tombstone with the portrait of Duke Henry II Pious is dedicated to the memory of the ruler, the son of St. Hedwig. It stems from his tomb in St Vincent's Church in Wrocław, which was erected over hundred years after the death of the sovereign that was killed near Legnica during the battle with Tartars (battle of Legnica, 1241).

It ranks with the most numerous and best collections of medieval art in Poland, encompassing sculptures in wood and paintings on wood panels, in addition to examples of decorative arts and crafts. Their subjects were mostly intended to convey a religious narrative. Chronologically arranged display reflects ideological and stylistic changes, to which Gothic art was submitted.

 

 

It includes selected sculptures connected with the circle of so-called Virgins on lions, among them the sculptureThe Virgin Mary and a Child Enthroned on Lionsfrom Skarbimierz (ca 1360), as well as a group of St Mary Magdalen and Apostles (1360 - 1370) from St Mary Magdalen's Church in Wrocław.

 

Mystical approach is represented, among others, byPietáfrom St Dorothea's Church in Wrocław (ca 1380) and a paintingSt Anne with the Virgin and the Christ Childfrom Strzegom (the late 14thc.), whereas a paintingMadonna with Child, originally housed in St John the Baptist's Cathedral in Wrocław, is an example of the International Gothic style.

 

From among Late Gothic's works worthy of special mention are monumental retables from Wrocław churches, as for instance: fragments of Wrocław Goldsmiths Polyptych from St Mary Magdalen's Church, St Hedwig's Triptych (ca 1470 - 1480) from St Elisabeth's Church and Dormition Polyptych (1492) from the Corpus Christi Church.

 

       

    The Virgin Mary and a Child

    Enthroned on Lions, Skarbimierz,

    ca 1360

 

Mention should be made of exhibited objects of decorative arts, namely goldsmiths' works, like herma - reliquary of St Dorothea (the early 15thc.), chalices and patens (the 15thc.) and well as Silesian guild utensils, predominantly pewter ware (the turn of the 15thc.).