Ignacy Krasicki's Study

The exhibition about Ignacy Krasicki occupies a former serving room, a small space with a single window. A chimney flue further reduces its size. The exhibition's name refers to the bishop and writer, but does not mean that this is his private study preserved unchanged.

The walls carry decoration from several periods, uncovered during conservation work in 1974–1977. Geometric forms appear below, with landscapes dating from Krasicki's time above them. A scrolling plant motif decorates the vault. The paintings form different layers of decoration, rather than a single scene covering the small interior.

Krasicki moved to Lidzbark in 1767. Here he wrote 'Fables and Parables', 'Monachomachia' and 'The Adventures of Mr Nicholas Wisdom'. The residence contained a library, an art collection and a theatre; the bishop's literary work developed amid books, pictures and court life.

Krasicki also tended and remodelled the castle gardens. He did not begin the residence's history afresh: he introduced eighteenth-century collections and decoration into an older building. The serving room's painted landscapes are material traces of that period, alongside the works familiar from literary history.