Szydłowiec Castle. The patronage of former owners

The exhibition entitled “Szydłowiec Castle. The patronage of former owners” is the first historical and artistic permanent exhibition of the Museum of Folk Musical Instruments in Szydłowiec, dedicated to and promoting the Gothic-Renaissance castle on the Korzeniówka River, which has been the venue for displaying the museum’s collections since 1975.

The exhibition is located in the oldest, northern part of the castle, dating back in provenance to the second half of the 15th century. Its interiors, adorned with early Renaissance timber-panelled coffered ceilings and a reconstructed pavement using early Renaissance floor tiles from the collections of the Szydłowiec Museum, have become a unique setting for the narrative about the castle’s heyday (16th-18th centuries). The exhibition presents the context of its former owners’ foundations, significant families of the past, the Szydłowieckis and Radziwiłłs.

Few traces remain of the remarkable structure’s glorious past. Time has not been kind to it. From the few surviving foundations for the castle and Szydłowiec, the exhibition has managed to gather many valuable objects. The late Gothic sculptures funded by the Szydłowiecki family hold a special place, including the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne from the Diocesan Museum in Sandomierz, Saint Barbara, and the late Gothic baptismal font from 1511, on loan from the Saint Sigismund Parish in Szydłowiec.

The exhibits belonging to the Museum of Folk Musical Instruments in Szydłowiec hold particular significance for the knowledge about the castle. They include priceless documents from the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, fragments of stove tiles, floor tiles, as well as stonework and architectural details from the former castle.

Music from the era, the narrator’s voice, historical films about the castle and foundations for the Szydłowiec parish, holograms, multimedia games, portraits of former rulers of the castle and the city, tricks of the light – all these elements form an essential context of the exhibition, through which visitors can learn about the history of the remarkable residence by the Korzeniówka river and the contributions of its successive owners to the development and beautification of the castle.

• Concept: Aneta I. Oborny
• Script, curator: Monika Sadura
• Cooperation: Adam Miernik
• Arrangement: DS Studio Damian Szulc
• Technical implementation: Group AV