DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.25050#0159
overlook the precious collection of Italian Renaissance furniture,
assembled in the interwar period, and some fine examples of
contemporary painting and ceramics. Very interesting, though
dating from a different time, are the massive eighteenth-century
stoves of colourful glazed tiles, bought for the Wawel from
Wisniowiec Castle in Volhynia.
In their details the Renaissance rooms in the Wawel look
different than in the era of the last Jagiellonians but the general
aspect of the royal residence is preserved. The original ideological
programme of the castle is still legible. The royal coats of arms on
portals and tapestries, the paintings on room and gallerry walls,
carved or painted Latin inscriptions, even the mysterious ceiling
heads in the Audience Hall, all form a multi-layered treatise
speaking of the might of the dynasty and recalling Stoic ideals of
virtuous life. The Wawel rooms not only recreate the material
splendour of the sixteenth century but also elucidate the complex
and often hermetic ways of thinking of the Renaissance man.
The atmosphere changes dramatically in the north wing
rooms rebuilt on orders from Sigismund III Vasa. The succes-
sion of Vasa rooms begins with the Birds’ Room (Sala pod
Ptakami), in the upper storey of the Hen’s Foot, which owes its
name to the former ceiling decoration. From the east, it is adjoined
by a chapel and the private suite of Sigismund III, housed in the
former Danish Tower and the corner tower, named after the
King. The serene Renaissance magnificence gives way here to
the austerity of the Counter-Reformation, redolent of the rigid
Spanish protocol introduced by the successive Hapsburg wives of
King Sigismund. Instead of tapestries there is a wall-covering of
painted and gilded leather; and where earlier rooms had caissons,
in the ceilings there are gilded panels framing paintings (by
Kowarski, Zbigniew Pronaszko, Adwentowicz, P^kalski, Jozef
Jarema and others). The portals and the magnificent fireplace in
the Birds’ Room, designed by Giovanni Trevano, are made of
dark brown marble. The walls are hung with solemn portraits of
the Vasas, notably the mounted Sigismund III and Ladislaus IV,
152
assembled in the interwar period, and some fine examples of
contemporary painting and ceramics. Very interesting, though
dating from a different time, are the massive eighteenth-century
stoves of colourful glazed tiles, bought for the Wawel from
Wisniowiec Castle in Volhynia.
In their details the Renaissance rooms in the Wawel look
different than in the era of the last Jagiellonians but the general
aspect of the royal residence is preserved. The original ideological
programme of the castle is still legible. The royal coats of arms on
portals and tapestries, the paintings on room and gallerry walls,
carved or painted Latin inscriptions, even the mysterious ceiling
heads in the Audience Hall, all form a multi-layered treatise
speaking of the might of the dynasty and recalling Stoic ideals of
virtuous life. The Wawel rooms not only recreate the material
splendour of the sixteenth century but also elucidate the complex
and often hermetic ways of thinking of the Renaissance man.
The atmosphere changes dramatically in the north wing
rooms rebuilt on orders from Sigismund III Vasa. The succes-
sion of Vasa rooms begins with the Birds’ Room (Sala pod
Ptakami), in the upper storey of the Hen’s Foot, which owes its
name to the former ceiling decoration. From the east, it is adjoined
by a chapel and the private suite of Sigismund III, housed in the
former Danish Tower and the corner tower, named after the
King. The serene Renaissance magnificence gives way here to
the austerity of the Counter-Reformation, redolent of the rigid
Spanish protocol introduced by the successive Hapsburg wives of
King Sigismund. Instead of tapestries there is a wall-covering of
painted and gilded leather; and where earlier rooms had caissons,
in the ceilings there are gilded panels framing paintings (by
Kowarski, Zbigniew Pronaszko, Adwentowicz, P^kalski, Jozef
Jarema and others). The portals and the magnificent fireplace in
the Birds’ Room, designed by Giovanni Trevano, are made of
dark brown marble. The walls are hung with solemn portraits of
the Vasas, notably the mounted Sigismund III and Ladislaus IV,
152