Zajímavé místo
Mausoleum of the Silesian Piasts
Medieval ducal sarcophagi stand within a Baroque interior of frescoes and coloured stucco.
Jazyk obsahu
The medieval sarcophagi of Bolko I the Strict and Bolko II the Small stand in a Baroque chapel designed together with the Church of the Virgin Mary. Several centuries separate them from the surrounding decoration. The mausoleum commemorates the abbey’s founders and the ducal family whose history became linked with Krzeszów. Bolko I, his son Bernard the Steadfast and his grandson Bolko II were buried here.
The first of these rulers and his grandson retain their old stone sarcophagi. These examples of medieval funerary art were later incorporated into a new architectural setting. The chapel itself was built alongside the Baroque church; it was not an unrelated building added to the complex by chance.
Frescoes by Georg Wilhelm Neunhertz extend above the tombs. Felix Anton Scheffler painted the altarpieces, while Ignazio Alberto Provisore created the coloured stucco. Stucco is a modelling material used to decorate buildings and can imitate ornamental stone.
Gilding, coloured surfaces and light distinguish this room from the image of a dark crypt. Its Baroque decoration expresses religious hope in life after death, while the sarcophagi preserve the material memory of medieval rulers.
Pro děti
A mausoleum is a building or room containing the tombs of important people. The dukes buried in Krzeszów include Bolko I the Strict, Bernard the Steadfast and Bolko II the Small. They were a father, son and grandson, connected with the abbey’s foundation.
Bolko I and Bolko II’s stone sarcophagi are older than the room around them. They were made in the Middle Ages and later placed in a Baroque chapel. That chapel was designed and built together with the church.
Several artists decorated the room. Georg Wilhelm Neunhertz painted the frescoes. Felix Anton Scheffler made the altar paintings, and Ignazio Alberto Provisore created the coloured stucco, a decorative material that can resemble stone. Gold and bright colours express Christian hope in life after death. The old tombs remain the room’s earliest witnesses to the dukes’ history.
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