Piątek, 03 - Wrzesień - 2010 rok
Pearl of Lidzbark Poviat
In the eastern part of the town, among tree-covered moraine hills stands one of the oldest and the most precious relic of Lidzbark's past - a magnificent Gothic castle. It is situated in the place where the Łyna and the Symsarna Rivers meet. For years, since its setup until 1795, it was bishops' of Warmia residence.
The castle, erected in the years 1350 - 1401 by the bishops: Jan I of Meissen, Jan II Stryprock and Henryk Sorbom, replaced the former wooden stronghold. The structure is made up of four wings enclosing an inner courtyard which is surrounded by two-storey cloisters. They so closely resemble the ones to be seen in the royal residence "Wawel" in Cracow that the castle in Lidzbark is often called "Wawel of the North" .
The north-eastern corner is a tower - quadrangle at the bottom and octagonal in the upper part. Underneath, for ages, there was a prison dark cell, or the so called " cell of forgottenness". Prisoners sentenced to starvation were kept here.
The original functional division of each of the castle's floors was based on the structure of a convent house. Unlike Teutonic Order Knights" castles, however, the interior design and the layout accentuate the castle's residential functions rather than defensive.
A visitor is welcomed by an ogival gate and, through the vestibule, is lead into the courtyard. Around it, on six levels, rooms of different functions are located. Two-storey cellars provided a storage space for food, for heating facilities, and were used as prison.
The kitchen was located on the ground west wing floor. In the north wing there was a bakery and brewery. East wing had storage rooms for flour, groats and spices.The armoury, sentry's house and treasury were in the south wing. On the first and second floors were residential and state rooms. In the attic there were housekeeping facilities and granary. This place also served defensive purposes.
The first floor, where the bishops' chambers are located, is the most interesting to see. There is an ante-room between the staircase and the halls. In the Summer Chamber, located in the northern part of the north wing, the star vault is covered with a painting in red with flowery ornaments and brown and blue stripes dating probably back to the 17th century.
The next room to visit is the Winter Chamber with a star-shaped vault and a fireplace. The recess in the western wall was once a passage to the tower bathroom over the Łyna River. Behind the chamber's wall there is a corridor from where a covered gallery led to the sanitary tower, also situated over the river.
The west wing houses the Butler's Pantry and the Refectory or summer dining room. The first one is not big because of the late 14th century chimney located here. It is now a real tourist attraction. Both rooms are decorated with 15th -18th century paintings.
In the south wing one will find a great chamber called Conference Room or Capitulary. It is covered with five-ribbed star vault. We should pay attention to the late 16th century paintings -" Deesis" ("Adoration") and "Crucifixion" as well as partly preserved gallery of bishops (15th century ).
The cloister walls of this level were decorated with paintings whose fragments can still be seen. The oldest ones, "Flagellation" and "The Last Judgment", come from the 14th century. One should notice the Gothic portal with reconstructed polychromy of ornaments characteristic of the 15th century. The east wall is decorated with coats of arms: Hosius - of Cardinal Stanisław Hozjusz, Medici - of Pope Pius IV, and Fox - of Bishop Szymon Rudnicki. There are also marble portals founded by Cardinal Michał Radziejowski in the 17th century and a late Renaissance (1612) portal in sandstone with the emblem of Warmia and Bishop Szymon Rudnicki.
From the cloister one can enter the Chapel in the south wing. It owes its rococo decor to Bishop Adam Stanisław Grabowski (18th cent.). The coats of arms on the vault are the ones of the founder's (Zbiświcz) and of Warmia Diocese (with the lamb). Frescos with Old Testament scenes are painted on the north wall. They are: "Three Angels with Abraham", "Isaac Sacrifice", "Eliezer Meeting Rebecca", " Jacob's Ladder", "Joseph's Dream", "Joseph as Egyptian Administrator". The author was probably Józef Korzeniowski from Lidzbark. He also painted the main altar picture of "St George and the Governors". The organ dates back to 1760 and was restored in the years 1972-1973.
The adjacent hall is the courtroom (Great Refectory). It is the largest and the finest of all the castle's rooms and occupies the space of the whole east wing. The Refectory is covered with a six-ribbed star vault. The oldest paintings decorating the walls are 14th century chess-board polychromy and on the south wall - "Coronation of Mary", painted around 1380. The heraldic frieze of the Bishops of Warmia was painted in the 18th century. The shields are original up to the one of Bishop Łukasz Watzenrode, the remaining ones being painted in the 20th century.
From the Refectory one is lead to a room in the tower where there was an oratory. The paintings date back to the times of Nicolas Copernicus' uncle Łukasz Watzenrode (1489-1512).
From the oratory's ante-room, wall stairs take us to the tower dungeon called the "cell of forgottenness".
The last room on this floor is the Audience Chamber, in the north wing. What we can see here now comes from the end of the 15th century. In that time it was heightened and covered with multi-ribbed star vault. Since the 16th cent. the room served as the castle's library. In 1936-37 a fragment of the 14th century arcade was uncovered to show the former height of the hall. The painting on the vault was restored in the years 1971 - 1974.
In the south wing, on the ground floor, there is another beautiful hall called Chamber on Pillars". Its characteristic cross-ribbed vault is supported by granite pillars. The armoury, Bishops' school for Prussian boys and servants' refectory used to be here.
The seat of bishopric in Lidzbark is one of the finest and best preserved defensive buildings of the Middle Ages in Poland. In 1963 it was acknowledged as the highest, "0" class, monument of history. It, thus, stands among Wawel, Frombork, Malbork, in a group of 65 such relics.
The castle's walls hosted many excellent guests. They were eminent humanists, poets, writers, scholars and politicians like the bishops: Wacław Leszczyński, Jan Stefan Wydżga, Teodor Potocki, Ignacy Krasicki, the cardinals: Stanisław Hozjusz, Andrzej Batory, Jan Olbrach Waza ( son of King Zygmunt III Waza ), Michał Radziejowski.
It is here, in Lidzbark castle, where Nicolas Copernicus, staying with his uncle Łukasz Watzenrode in the years 1495 - 1496 and 1503 - 1520, observed heavenly bodies move and here did he write the preface to his main work the so-called "Little Commentary".
A visitor to the castle should also see the permanent exhibition of unique icons painted by professional Russian artists. The Wojnów icons (16th - 20th cent.), crosses, altars, plaques come from the church of Orthodox cloister for females in the village of Wojnowo. The most precious purchase is a fragment of tsar's gate with the scene of Annunciation and the icon " St John Evangelist With Prochor" - both created in 16th and 17th cent.
Polish 20th cent painting exhibition enables visitors to learn about development of this form of art from the beginning of the 20th cent. to present days. Pictures by impressionists, cubists, classicists are displayed in the first hall. In the second one there are abstract and colourist paintings.
"The living heritage"
however damaged, the exhibits collected here are of unique cultural value. Among them are photographs, documentation of restoring relics of architecture, sculpture, numismatic pieces, ethnography , archeology.
This photograph presents a collection of marble and sandstone mantels from Wydżga's palace. The sculptures used to decorate Bishop Krasicki's gardens.
LEGEND
In the middle ages, a bishop residing in the castle of Lidzbark sentenced a murderer to death. The bishop soon died and the one to follow wanted to get into his subjects' favours. He proclaimed amnesty and so the prisoner was pardoned. The wretch was released from the dark cell of forgottenness at the bottom of the tower and led to the cloisters. With relief, he looked up. But when he saw the sun he lost his sight and died. The Heavens must have been offended by the bishop's misfortunate forgiveness. So, that was the first and the last time when the bishops showed mercy to evil deeds. This is not the end of the story. Well, some time later, when darkness fell, the castle guards began to notice two little sparks moving in the cellars, along the cloisters, in the cell of forgottenness. These were the eyes of the condemned. They say you can see them to this day. Is it really so? You must come and check .
Translator: Marzena Wyczolkowska
Ul. Wyszyńskiego 37
11-100 Lidzbark Warmiński
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