Schoen’s Palace Museum in Sosnowiec is completing, with financial aid of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, a two-year project (2022-2023) dedicated to  the conservation of the designs for stained glass windows of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary cathedral in Sosnowiec. The designs by Jan Bukowski date back to 1936.

First days of December 2022 saw a completion of the first stage of this task. After renovation in Krakow, one of the three large-scale designs – for a stained glass window depicting Virgin Mary – was returned to the Museum. Its conservation lasted from June until the end of November 2022, and it was completed by a conservator Katarzyna Król-Goździk, who also prepared dedicated professional box for the design. Remaining two designs, i.e. “Our Lady of Rosary with Infant Christ” and “Stigmatisation of St Francis” (partially preserved), will be renovated in 2023.

All three designs for stained glasses will be presented to the public at the end of 2023. The event will be accompanied by a scientific conference dedicated to the stained glasses of the cathedral in Sosnowiec, considered a valuable monument of the Polish culture of interwar period.

The above-mentioned designs for stained glass windows are a symbol of the common heritage of Krakow and Sosnowiec in interwar period. The cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Sosnowiec, for which the designs were made, is an evidence for an extraordinary bond with Krakow artistic circles. This unique temple became a long-time workplace for Krakow artists Włodzimierz Tetmajer and Henryk Uziębło, thanks to the vision and courage of the first parson of the cathedral, Father Dominik Roch Milbert. Those two artists worked on decorating the church – starting with its polychromy, and ending with the 43 stained glass windows, gradually filling the interior of the church between 1935 and 1939. All of the stained glass windows were designed by Jan Bukowski and produced by the company Krakowski Zakład Witrażów S. G. Żeleński.

Interestingly, the stained glass window whose design has just returned to the Museum, was funded by the married couple Stanisław and Maria Kraupe (from a well-known family of industrialists from Sosnowiec). Their grand-daughter, Janina Kraupe-Świderska (1921-2016), was an outstanding Polish painter, and her whole adult life was connected to Krakow.

HERITO is the media patron of the project.

Read more: https://www.muzeum.org.pl/pierwszy-karton-powrocil-do-muzeum/

Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund.