Silesian sacred art

The gallery brings together nearly 80 works of sculpture, painting and craftsmanship made in Silesia between the 14th and the end of the 18th century. The collection began in the 1920s in the church department of the Heimatmuseum, and after the war it grew through transfers from monument conservators.

The display is divided into a Late Gothic and a Baroque part, and its largest objects are two winged altarpieces from the 15th and 16th centuries. The Gothic part consists mainly of free-standing and altar sculptures from anonymous carving workshops run by guild craftsmen. Linked with the region is the workshop of the Master of the Gościszowice Altarpiece, active in north-western Lower Silesia roughly from 1499 to 1520. About 15 surviving altar ensembles are associated with his output.

The Baroque part includes a 17th-century stone figure of St John of Nepomuk, rare in this collection, and the group "The Marriage of the Virgin". Next to them hangs the 18th-century painting "The Kiss of Joseph", painted after an original by Michael Leopold Willmann. The ensemble is completed by liturgical objects: a 17th-century ciborium, candlesticks, a chalice with cruets and a baptismal bowl.