The Assembly Hall

The Assembly Hall has a five-bay star vault. Its originally grey surfaces carried lighter tracery ornament, while the ribs were painted red and green. The Gothic interior was therefore neither uniformly bare brick nor devoid of colour.

In 1673, an inserted floor divided the tall hall into two storeys. Under Ignacy Krasicki, the lower level housed a library, archives and geological collections, with a picture gallery above. The altered layout allowed one hall to accommodate several different kinds of collection.

Fragments of late fourteenth- and fifteenth-century wall paintings survive. They depict Christ with the symbols of the Evangelists, the Crucifixion and Bishop Anselm kneeling before Mary and the Child, among other subjects. Lower down are painted acanthus leaves and drapery, a decoration imitating hanging fabric.

Anton Hoffmann's painting 'The Battle of Heilsberg', displayed here, depicts the fighting near Lidzbark in 1807. The artist lived from 1863 to 1938, so he did not witness the battle. Painted on commission, the work is a later interpretation of the event, distinct from the medieval decoration on the walls.