reconstruction of mosaic figure of the Madonna with Child on the eastern elevation of the Malbork's castle church
Blessed Virgin Mary from Malbork castle was a patron of Teutonic Order state. Its 8 meters tall figure was build in 1340’s. The sculpture was destroyed during II WW, but was carefully reconstructed recently. From April 2016 she is back on Malbork castle walls! Teutonic crusaders were brought to northern Poland in 1228 by local prince, to fight pagan tribes. In less then 200 years, knights with black crosses on their chests created powerful and aggressive state, wreaking havock on borderland with Poland and Lithuania. The figure of Mary, Mother of God, was thought to guard their country from hostile incursions. It’s not a coincidence, that she was facing east: in the direction of still pagan, Lithuanian lands.
The germ of Malbork castle Teutonic knights were soldiers, not art connoisseurs, so architecture and décor of their castles and churches was rather austere. But Madonna’s sculpture was an exception. The figure was polychromed, and in 1380’s was covered with mosaic. Studies show, that it was made probably by some unknown, Venetian masters.
The sculpture was carved from so called “artificial rock”, which turned out to be amazingly durable. Thus, the figure survived many twists and turns in Malbork castle’s history: sieges during Teutonic and Polish periods and squalidity of the fortress by Prussian authorities in XVIII century.
In 1945 Malbork castle became once again a place of fierce battle. This time it’s thick walls were no match to modern artillery. When the fighting was over, half of the fortress was in ruins. Unfortunately, the castle’s Church of Virgin Mary, with Madonna’s sculpture on its wall, was completely destroyed.
The church was hasty reconstructed in 1960’s, but it wasn’t a detailed work. Pressure from groups of local enthusiast, NGO and stream of EU founds led to resuming the works in 2014.
To reconstruct Madonna’s sculpture, advanced, computer 3D techniques were used. The shape of the figure was modeled from existing photos, iconography and old, amateur movies. Fortunately, also a plaster cast of Madonna’s face from beginning of XXth century survived.
The biggest problem was probably the color pattern – only few non-black and white shots of the sculpture survived. But… finally, from 17th of April 2016, Madonna is back on Malbork castle walls!
source: http://poland-incoming.eu/malbork-castle-madonna/
The germ of Malbork castle Teutonic knights were soldiers, not art connoisseurs, so architecture and décor of their castles and churches was rather austere. But Madonna’s sculpture was an exception. The figure was polychromed, and in 1380’s was covered with mosaic. Studies show, that it was made probably by some unknown, Venetian masters.
The sculpture was carved from so called “artificial rock”, which turned out to be amazingly durable. Thus, the figure survived many twists and turns in Malbork castle’s history: sieges during Teutonic and Polish periods and squalidity of the fortress by Prussian authorities in XVIII century.
In 1945 Malbork castle became once again a place of fierce battle. This time it’s thick walls were no match to modern artillery. When the fighting was over, half of the fortress was in ruins. Unfortunately, the castle’s Church of Virgin Mary, with Madonna’s sculpture on its wall, was completely destroyed.
The church was hasty reconstructed in 1960’s, but it wasn’t a detailed work. Pressure from groups of local enthusiast, NGO and stream of EU founds led to resuming the works in 2014.
To reconstruct Madonna’s sculpture, advanced, computer 3D techniques were used. The shape of the figure was modeled from existing photos, iconography and old, amateur movies. Fortunately, also a plaster cast of Madonna’s face from beginning of XXth century survived.
The biggest problem was probably the color pattern – only few non-black and white shots of the sculpture survived. But… finally, from 17th of April 2016, Madonna is back on Malbork castle walls!
source: http://poland-incoming.eu/malbork-castle-madonna/