After 30 years of painstaking conservation work, the scaffolding has been removed from the interior of the library at the former Cistercian abbey in Lubiąż. Visitors can once again admire the Baroque polychromes by Philip Christian Bentum, considered the painter’s finest work in Silesia. Although this important stage in the restoration of this priceless monument has been completed, there is still much to be done at the monastery.
Baroque paintings in Lubiąż
The monastery library in Lubiąż has regained its former splendour after nearly 30 years of conservation work. The work has revealed the impressively large polychromes created between 1735 and 1738 by Philip Christian Bentum. The artist, who trained in Prague, Vienna and Rome, later settled in Wrocław, where he gained the recognition of the Silesian aristocracy as an outstanding portraitist and creator of painted decorations. The library in Lubiąż is considered his most refined work in terms of composition and technique.
A challenging conservation project
The restoration of the paintings required exceptional precision. Previous conservation work, as well as the technique used by Bentum himself, proved to be a problem. His work was created using oil tempera applied to a plaster substrate, which significantly complicated the work involved in securing and restoring the paintings. A detailed account of the entire process was prepared by Dr Grażyna Schulze-Głazik, author of an award-winning publication on the library’s decorations, published in Kraków in 2013. Most of the paintings have regained their former clarity and colours, though white patches remain on the walls and vault, requiring further research and work.
The Abbey in Lubiąż: a European-scale complex
The Lubiąż monastery is one of the largest complexes of its kind in the whole of Europe. Its history began in the 12th century, when the Cistercians established an important religious, economic and cultural centre of Silesia here. The most spectacular period of development occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was then that the magnificent Baroque buildings were constructed, among which the richly decorated interiors of the library, the church and the abbots’ palace stand out in particular. This period of prosperity came to an end with the secularisation of church property carried out by Prussia in 1810. From that moment on, the buildings served various purposes, including as a hospital and a warehouse.
War and years of devastation
An exceptionally tragic chapter in the complex’s history occurred during the Second World War. At that time, the Germans set up workshops in the monastery to serve the arms industry, utilising the labour of prisoners and forced labourers. At the same time, the surviving works of art and furnishings were removed from the complex. The Red Army inflicted even greater damage on Lubiąż than the Nazis. After 1945, Russians were stationed in the abandoned and looted monastery; they destroyed what remained of the furnishings of the church, the library and other rooms, and plundered the crypts and tombs of the Silesian Piasts. The period of the Second World War and the years immediately following its end turned this Baroque gem into a ruin. Many historic artefacts were lost forever.
The monastery library in Lubiąż reopens after 30 years
After the Soviet army left the monastery, the devastated building remained without proper care for a long time. Some of the rooms were still used as storage areas, and the lack of funds to maintain such a vast complex accelerated the deterioration of individual interiors and buildings. The first conservation work was undertaken in the 1960s, but the real breakthrough came only after 1989, with the establishment of the Lubiąż Foundation. Thanks to many years of work, it has been possible to save the most valuable interiors, repair the roofs and open a significant part of the complex to visitors. The recent opening of the renovated library after 30 years of conservation is undoubtedly one of the most significant events in the history of the post-war restoration of this exceptional monument.
Source: fundacjalubiaz.org.pl, Lower Silesian Provincial Conservator of Monuments
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