This is an all-time record, the director of the Wawel Castle museum Andrzej Betlej told Poland’s state news agency PAP. He added that is all the more spectacular in view of the fact that for the first five months of the year most sections of the museum were closed amid preparations for a revamp.
Pride of place among the new crowd-pulling attractions is the Crown Treasury, which reopened in June following a major facelift and has since been visited by some 140,000 people.
The highlight of the Crown Treasury is the Szczerbiec, Poland's original coronation sword. Used from 1320 to 1764, it is considered the single most important relic in Polish history. On display are also state insignia and royal banners, as well as the mantle of the Order of the Holy Spirit, which was a gift from Louis XIV of France to King Jan III Sobieski, the victor at the Battle of Vienna in 1683.
Betlej told PAP that a special display of Rembrandt’s “The Polish Rider” also evoked much interest, as did several small-scale exhibitions. Among those, he singled out an exhibition of works by Andrzej Radwański, an 18th-century Kraków painter. “To have 10,000 visitors to a show by an artist who is known to a narrow circle of connoisseurs is a notable achievement”, Betlej said.
He also welcomed the fact that over 20, 000 children of various age have participated this year in educational classes and workshops. (mk/jh)
Source: PAP