DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21832#0010
Preface
On May 22, 2010, a new gallery was opened in the Bishop Erazm Ciołek
Palace, a branch of the National Museum in Krakow: "Krakow Within
Your Reach. Architectural Sculpture from the Collections of the National
Museum in Krakow."
The exhibition includes around 100 fragments of stone, many of them the sole surviv-
ing relics of non-extant buildings both sacral and secular. Others are originals that
have been replaced in their original buildings by copies. Although many of these
pieces represented a very high artistic standard, there was much greater visitor
interest in the plaster casts and models. This was partly due to the simple fact that
there were more of these - over 700 exhibits, filling five of the seven cellars under
the northern and western wings of the Palace.
This collection came into being for two reasons. Firstly the National Museums old-
est permanent exhibitions in Krakow (in the Cloth Hall and the Town Hall Tower)
featured plaster casts in place of works of architecture that were not available for
display purposes but were considered essential elements of the museum narrative
on the history of art in Poland. The main influx of plaster pieces to the Museum
came as a result of the major conservation work undertaken on Krakow buildings,
above all the Wawel Cathedral and St Mary's Church, at the turn of the 19th and 20th
centuries. Plaster casts were made at that time to document the state of preservation
of particular works, while plaster models were used as patterns on which to base
details that needed recarving.
We decided that the character of our collection was sufficiently interesting to warrant
a confrontation with the genesis of other important European collections of plaster
pieces. The format on which we settled was an international conference, "Plaster
Casts of the Works of Art. History of Collections - Conservation - Exhibition
Practice". The conference was held on May 25 in the Hall of Virtues on the first floor
of the Bishop Erazm Ciołek Palace, and ten papers were given. Prof. Jerzy Miziołek
(institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw) offered a historical overview
of the subject of plaster cast collecting. Eryk Bunsch (Museum Palace in Wilanów)
discussed the technical aspects of executing plaster casts. Next, Jean-Marc Hofman
(Cite de l'architecture et du patrimoine / Musee des Monuments Franęais - Galerie
des Moulages, Paris) described the new layout (2007) of the Paris collection of plaster
8
On May 22, 2010, a new gallery was opened in the Bishop Erazm Ciołek
Palace, a branch of the National Museum in Krakow: "Krakow Within
Your Reach. Architectural Sculpture from the Collections of the National
Museum in Krakow."
The exhibition includes around 100 fragments of stone, many of them the sole surviv-
ing relics of non-extant buildings both sacral and secular. Others are originals that
have been replaced in their original buildings by copies. Although many of these
pieces represented a very high artistic standard, there was much greater visitor
interest in the plaster casts and models. This was partly due to the simple fact that
there were more of these - over 700 exhibits, filling five of the seven cellars under
the northern and western wings of the Palace.
This collection came into being for two reasons. Firstly the National Museums old-
est permanent exhibitions in Krakow (in the Cloth Hall and the Town Hall Tower)
featured plaster casts in place of works of architecture that were not available for
display purposes but were considered essential elements of the museum narrative
on the history of art in Poland. The main influx of plaster pieces to the Museum
came as a result of the major conservation work undertaken on Krakow buildings,
above all the Wawel Cathedral and St Mary's Church, at the turn of the 19th and 20th
centuries. Plaster casts were made at that time to document the state of preservation
of particular works, while plaster models were used as patterns on which to base
details that needed recarving.
We decided that the character of our collection was sufficiently interesting to warrant
a confrontation with the genesis of other important European collections of plaster
pieces. The format on which we settled was an international conference, "Plaster
Casts of the Works of Art. History of Collections - Conservation - Exhibition
Practice". The conference was held on May 25 in the Hall of Virtues on the first floor
of the Bishop Erazm Ciołek Palace, and ten papers were given. Prof. Jerzy Miziołek
(institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw) offered a historical overview
of the subject of plaster cast collecting. Eryk Bunsch (Museum Palace in Wilanów)
discussed the technical aspects of executing plaster casts. Next, Jean-Marc Hofman
(Cite de l'architecture et du patrimoine / Musee des Monuments Franęais - Galerie
des Moulages, Paris) described the new layout (2007) of the Paris collection of plaster
8