After almost 80 years, the Renaissance Great Furnace from the Artus Court in Gdańsk has recovered four tiles. The pieces were previously thought to have been lost during the turmoil of war, and have now been ceremoniously handed over to representatives of the Gdansk Museum. This is the result of a joint effort by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the museum institution and private individuals.
The Great Furnace is regarded as one of the most important works of Renaissance artistic ceramics in Europe. It has now recovered another four original pieces. The handover ceremony was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Culture, the city authorities, the museum and donors. The tiles will undergo conservation and then return to their place in the kiln structure in the autumn. Among the objects recovered were portraits of historical figures: the Elector of Saxony Frederick III the Wise and Emperor Charles V of Habsburg, donated by Hazen George Sise of Canada; an image of Emperor Ferdinand I of Habsburg, returned by Michał and Maciej Piechotek; and a tile depicting Ludwig X of Wittelsbach, donated by the Art. Magnat Auction House. The Gdansk Museum honoured Robert Szczygielski and others involved in the restitution with the Gdansk Museum Medal.
Most of the works recovered after the war end up in cultural institutions thanks to the voluntary decisions of private owners. According to Elżbieta Rogowska of the Department of Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, cases such as this prove that even after decades it is possible to recover lost cultural property. In recent years, nearly 800 objects have returned to Polish collections. The Great Furnace from the Artus Court was built between 1545 and 1546. The work of art erected by Georg Stelzner measures more than 10 metres high and weighs 13 tonnes. It consists of more than 500 tiles with images of Protestant and Catholic rulers of Europe, which emphasised the idea of religious tolerance in 16th-century Gdansk. Many of these tiles were lost during the Second World War.
One of the four recovered tiles was encountered by chance. During an appraisal at the Art Magnat Auction House, the staff noticed the object, which upon verification turned out to be part of the Great Furnace. After consultation with the owner, it was decided to donate it to the museum. War loss catalogues make it possible to identify lost works. The Museum of Gdansk, thanks to the support of the programme of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, developed three such catalogues, which contributed to the recovery of the lost elements of the furnace. The director of the Gdansk Museum, Waldemar Ossowski, announced that work to restore the historic appearance of the Great Hall in the Manor House would continue. The institution is currently carrying out a project to digitise all elements of its furnishings, and plans to publish detailed documentation of the Great Furnace next year. An exhibition on its history and restoration will also be held in the autumn, which will include a new replica of the Diana Group by sculptor Stanisław Wyrostek.
Artus Court is one of the most important monuments in Gdańsk. It is located on Długi Targ Street, in the shadow of the Main Town Hall. The building was built in the 14th century and served representative and social functions for centuries to come. In the 16th and 17th centuries, it was the seat of the city’s brotherhoods and a meeting place for the Gdansk elite. The interior of the main hall is decorated with paintings, sculptures, panelling and ceramics, and the focal point remains the striking cooker. After the severe destruction of 1945, much of the decoration was able to be restored, and some elements survived thanks to earlier evacuation.
Source: gdansk.pl
Read also: Architecture in Poland | Facade | Monument | History | Gdańsk
Artus Court in 1928 and 2017. Source: Warsaw University of Technology Digital Library and Аимаина хикари, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Great Hall in 1920 and 2019. Source: Bildarchiv Foto Marburg Gyddanyzc,CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Artus Court in 1948 and today. Source: NAC – National Digital Archive www.nac.gov.pl/ and Andrzej Otrębski, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
