Nineteenth-century stained-glass windows from the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the High Castle in Malbork

The exhibition presents a part of the collection, the beginnings of which are closely linked to the events at the end of the second world war. The stained-glass window panels presented here were secured a few months before the front line reached the area. These types of works were typically dismantled as a preventive measure in places threatened by military operations. Stored in crates and hidden in the castle cellars, they survived the war.

Each of the windows of the castle church was glazed with compositions depicting Old and New Testament scenes. Most were made between 1891 and 1893, but some also date back to the Middle Ages. Currently, this group of medieval glass paintings forms part of the collection of the District Museum in Toruń and includes historical glazing from the churches of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Nicholas in Toruń, as well as stained glass from the churches of Chełmno. The 33 panels presented at the exhibition are imitations of Gothic stained glass from Chełmno.