And so the Holy Virgin Mary Must Watch as Her Home is Defiled… Malbork Between the Political and the Sacred (1772–1856), Exhibition Catalogue

And so the Holy Virgin Mary Must Watch as Her Home is Defiled… Malbork Between the Political and the Sacred (1772–1856), Exhibition Catalogue – Malbork Castle Museum, 23 September – 31 December 2022, edited by Barbara Pospieszna, Malbork 2023.

The exhibition ‘And so the Holy Virgin Mary Must Watch as Her Home is Defiled… Malbork Between the Political and the Sacred (1772–1856)’ was accompanied by two publications. The first volume, published before the end of the exhibition, contains essays by prominent experts on the subject from Poland and Germany. The second volume, published in December 2023, consists of 366 pages of extensive and fascinating descriptions of the 157 exhibits presented at the exhibition in the mediaeval halls of the dormitory of the High Castle in Malbork. Thanks to a successful partnership between our team, led by Dr Justyna Lijka, and nineteen experts from sixteen Polish, German and Austrian cultural institutions, we have been able to once again discuss the period of the castle’s reconstruction between the end of the 18th and the second half of the 19th centuries from the perspective of the tumultuous history of Poland and Prussia.

A major success was the first ever presentation of drawings, watercolour paintings, print designs and copies depicting the state of the castle at the time created by the brilliant German artists Johann Friedrich Frick, in addition to his private sketchbook, donated by his family members to the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts in 2010. Previously unknown stained-glass window designs intended for the Grand Master’s Palace and the Grand Refectory were also presented for the first time as part of the exhibition, accompanied by an in-depth analysis included in the catalogue. These and many more interesting exhibits, including fine china teacups with painted vistas of the castle crafted to celebrate an anniversary of Carl August Gersdorff’s employment (see also: A Teacup and an Imaginary Image of Malbork Castle – Castle Collection Treasures (zamek.malbork.pl), The Panoramas of Kwidzyń and Malbork Castles on Fine China – Castle Collection Treasures (zamek.malbork.pl)), are presented in the catalogue published by the Malbork Castle Museum, which is divided into four sections mirroring the exhibition itself:

1. Lost Identity. Malbork Castle Between the 18th and 19th Centuries,
2. A New Perspective on Prussian Antiquity,
3. The Patriotic Apotheosis of the Teutonic Order in the Wars of Liberation (1813–1815),
4. Under the Patronage of the House of Hohenzollern. Malbork Castle as the Pantheon of Prussian Province.