Wilanów Palace

   

The Queen's room.

The palace interiors show three different styles, from the 17th to the 19th centuries. It houses the Museum of Interiors, the painting gallery, the gallery of coffin portraits and of the decorative arts. Wilanów has no less than 60 rooms, most stuffed with royal memorabilia and portraits of Polish monarchs and heavyweights i.e. Crimson Room, The Queen’s Antechamber, The King’s Antechamber, The King’s Bedroom, The King’s Library, The Palace Chapel,. The Etruscan Room, displays Greek vases from the 8th to the 2nd century B.C., thought in the eighteenth century to be Etruscan because so many were found in Italy.

The oldest, Baroque section of the Palace, with the royal apartments, has preserved its original form. The ceiling in the Queen’s Antechamber is decorated with a painting on canvas by Jerzy Siemiginowski-Eleuter depicting an allegory of Autumn. Allegories of the remaining seasons can be found in the further royal rooms: the Queen’s Bedroom has an Allegory of Spring, the King’s Antechamber an Allegory of Winter and in the King’s Bedroom the Allegory of Summer by Siemiginowski depicts Queen Marie Casimire as Aurora. The walls are covered in patterned velvet (1710–1730) in the Genoese style. The walls and ceilings of the Lower North Gallery and the Lower South Gallery are decorated with frescoes, commissioned by King John III from Michelangelo Palloni. Displayed in the Lower North Gallery are marble busts, silverware and the famous Portrait of Stanisław Kostka Potocki, by Jacques Louis David. In the upper dome bath of Queen Marysieńka the walls are covered with 17th century Dutch Delft tiles and profuse baroque stucco decoration. Near the south turret a free-standing equestrian statue showing John III Sobieski as the triumphant vanquisher of the Turks. The plaster statue was made around 1693 by an unknown royal sculptor.

The first floor contains the Gallery of Polish Portrait with portraits of monarchs including many portraits of John III and his family, members of Polish aristocracy and nobility, meritorious Poles and organizers of the artistic life.

 




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©2005-2008 Michel Zacharz Home page Contact All pictures were taken by Michel Zacharz. Any use without a formal approval is forbidden.