HISTORY

The Splendour of Baroque, or "Pompa viventium"

The exhibition entitled "Pompa viventium" (the splendour of the living), which has been open to the public since the end of May to mid October in the Museum of the Beginnings of the Polish State in Gniezno, transfers visitors into the world that existed around 300 years ago. Staged by the Museum of Applied Arts, a unit of the National Museum in Poznań, the exhibition presents period objects which the people of Baroque liked to surround themselves with, such as tapestry, furniture, goldsmith's works, china and glassware. Characteristic features of this epoch featuring elaborate court ethics, theatralisation of life, particularly of official life, and a haughty pose required an appropriate setting and design - not only that of the interior but also a whole realm of appropriate props. Showy tapestry, expensive furniture, decorative china and pottery, glittering and crystal dishes formed a framework and a background against which one's high rank, status and power could be exposed. The necessity to constantly emphasise one's position in the social hierarchy forced the people of Baroque to present their wealth and "grandeur" evoked by the very name of the exhibition. This splendour was reinforced also by exoticism, a trend which was not fully comprehensible for the contemporary but it surprised and attracted the viewers thanks to its mysterious diversity. Permeated with the oriental fashion prevalent in Europe, our local Baroque was also clad in the native oriental character, evoked by the legend according to which nobility originated from an ancient nomadic people Sarmatians. Ostentatious piety, so much characteristic of the then life, found its expression in the fact that people surrounded themselves with holy pictures and founded rich furnishing for churches and monasteries.

The exhibition is a rare opportunity to confront our idea of the past with once used concrete objects, masterpieces of decorative art, shown in all their beauty and originality.

Zygmunt Dolczewski