Historical Metal Collection

Elaborate metal products, especially silver, began to be collected in the Malbork Castle at the very beginning of the concept of creating a museum institution there, which took place in the 1820s. When the castle was turned into an interior museum, which happened at the end of the 19th century, the rooms were equipped with copies of items from the mature and late gothic period, e.g. in the castle church, brass and iron candlesticks were hung, modeled on the lighting of German churches and cathedrals. After the castle was destroyed in 1945, the collection was dispersed. After the castle’s museum functions were reactivated, it was decided to emphasize the interior furnishings referring to the times when the royal residence was functioning here. Today, the collection includes 676 items. It focuses on collecting secular and sacred items made in the workshops of Royal and Ducal Prussia. Among the goldsmith’s products, there are single examples of production: Silesian, German, Baltic and Swedish. The prayer books from the second half of the 19th century are extremely valuable. In the 17th century, for private devotion, Lilac flowers and the Blue Treasure, both in silver, richly decorated bindings, and a 13th-century copper liturgical tin (pyxis), covered with partially preserved enamel. There are also numerous relics, such as tin bowls, platters and cups, mechanisms of chest locks and doors, and forged decorative grates, created mainly during the German restoration of the castle.