The tempestuous history of Wroclaw, especially in the 20th century, is reflected in historic architecture, such as restored churches, renovated town houses and sculptures reassembled with hundreds of pieces.
Altarpiece of 1.5 thousand pieces
One of such sculptures is an altarpiece in the Hochberg Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows at the Greek Byzantine Catholic Cathedral of Saint James in Plac Nankiera. The Baroque chapel, which sustained severe damage during the siege of the Festung Breslau, was restored and opened to the faithful and visitors after ten years of painstaking work in 2013. The altarpiece was reassembled using nearly 1.5 thousand pieces that were found in the rubble strewn all over the chapel's interior. A brass star, which was used to join marble floor tiles, was also found in the rubble. It served as a model for the remaining 379.
Angelus's pulpit
Almost adjacent to the Greek Byzantine Catholic Cathedral lies a small Church of Saint Maciej. Its Baroque interior attracts visitors with its Renaissance pulpit dating back to 1607. This is one the earliest preserved places of this kind in Wroclaw. The pulpit was used by poet and mystic Angelus Silesius.The pulpit and the church survived the ravages of war, but the building was in such a bad shape that the roof over the northern section of the transept collapsed in 1958. The roof fell onto the pulpit, which also turned into rubble. Two hundred pieces of a historic 3D jigsaw puzzle were interred in Angelus Silesius's vault. With modern technology and latest renovation in the church, the pulpit has been restored to its original condition. The monument is there for the visitors to admire where it stood nearly 60 years ago.
Mysterious Madonna's head
It has been announced that the Madonna with the Child statue is going to return to Saint Mary Magdalene's Church after Easter. The church will be presented with a replica, the original also having been restored. The most intriguing story, however, concerns the Madonna's head.
Initially, that is, for ca. 450 years, the statue was held at the main entrance to the church in ul Szewska in Wroclaw. The statue survived World War II. After the city's surrender, a mysterious explosion took place on 17 May 1945, which destroyed three walls on the church's tower. The façade and the main portal also sustained damage. The sculpture broke down into two pieces, each of which was stored in a different location. The torso (the origin of which remained unknown for years) was stored in one of the side chapels of the cathedral. The Madonna's head was declared missing or destroyed. The head was accidentally rediscovered at the Archdiocese Museum in Wroclaw by Professor Romuald Kaczmarek, an art historian and academic teacher at the University of Wroclaw. The head was bequeathed to the museum as part of the inheritance of Professor Eugeniusz Iwanoyko, a renowned Poznań-based art historian.
A statue in two peices prior to renovation. Photograph: Tomasz Walków
The statue was restored with a concerted effort from the Archdiocese Museum in Poznań, Cathedral Parish of the Polish Catholic Church in Poland and National Museum. The head and the torso were bequeathed to the National Museum's collection. The restored Madonna will be held at the National Museum, while its replica will return to the church, where, sixty years earlier, she would grace the faithful with her beaming smile.
This is how the statue looked prior to World War II. Photograph: Archive of the Polish Catholic Parish of Saint Mary Magdalene in Wroclaw
