The latest publi­ca­tion ‘The Veit Stoss Altar in St. Mary­’s Church in Cra­cow’, by the seaso­ned art histo­rian Pro­fes­sor Paweł Pen­ca­kow­ski, is now in the hands of readers. It is accom­pa­nied by pho­to­gra­phs by Paweł Gąsior and archi­val materials.

During the most recent resto­ra­tion betwe­en 2015 and 2021, the authors had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to view the ste­ely master­pie­ce from scaf­fol­ding level, touching the myste­ry and com­mu­ning with the beau­ty of the sculp­tu­re ‘face to face’.

As Pro­fes­sor Paweł Pen­ca­kow­ski points out, the Wit Stwosz Altar has accom­pa­nied him at vario­us sta­ges of his life, star­ting from chil­dho­od: ‘as a child I was with my parents at an exhi­bi­tion of its gre­at figu­res and other sculp­tu­res at Wawel Castle, I wat­ched it toge­ther with my bro­ther, liste­ning to the com­ments of our father — the archi­tect, I was deli­gh­ted by the book (and the film) The Sto­ry of the Yel­low Clo­ak. I also read scho­lar­ly stu­dies of this reta­ble as a high scho­ol stu­dent, as a stu­dent of Art Histo­ry at the Jagiel­lo­nian Uni­ver­si­ty, and later as a researcher.’

Prof Pen­ca­kow­ski has been invo­lved in three resto­ra­tions of the altar­pie­ce, inc­lu­ding this one betwe­en 2015 and 2021. ‘Com­mu­ning with this cre­ation of a gre­at artist deli­gh­ted me and still does. The per­fec­tion of its archi­tec­tu­ral struc­tu­re, the master­ful sculp­tu­ral forms, the splen­do­ur and har­mo­ny of the colo­urs, the rich­ness of the ide­olo­gi­cal pro­gram­me, as well as the pres­by­te­ry, which is the set­ting for this jewel of late Gothic wood­ca­rving,’ sta­tes Prof Pencakowski.

The album pre­sents the histo­ry of the cre­ation of the altar­pie­ce, its fur­ther fate and con­se­rva­tion. It is descri­bed in the con­text of the histo­ry of the city of Kra­kow and St. Mary­’s Church. The sto­ry is accom­pa­nied by archi­val mate­rials, but abo­ve all by pho­to­gra­phs taken by pho­to­gra­pher Paweł Gąsior during the recent conservation.

‘During the con­se­rva­tion of the altar­pie­ce, I had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to look at Stwo­sz’s work from a com­ple­te­ly unu­su­al per­spec­ti­ve. The oppor­tu­ni­ty to pho­to­graph and illu­mi­na­te parts of the altar­pie­ce made me reali­se what gre­at arti­stic genius lies hid­den in the imper­cep­ti­ble deta­ils of this monu­men­tal com­po­si­tion. I hope that in my pho­to­gra­phs I have mana­ged to convey, at least in a small part, the beau­ty, pre­ci­sion and enor­mo­us emo­tio­nal load enchan­ted in the Bible made of lin­den wood,“ says Paweł Gąsior.

The publi­ca­tion aims to bro­aden the know­led­ge of this extra­or­di­na­ry art monu­ment and to allow you to see it in its enti­re­ty, up clo­se, inc­lu­ding tho­se hard-to-reach deta­ils. ‘Thro­ugh the pages of this publi­ca­tion, the altar­pie­ce takes on a dif­fe­rent per­spec­ti­ve, full of con­se­rva­tion deta­ils and unpa­ral­le­led fra­ming. Beau­ty com­mu­ni­ca­tes heri­ta­ge in this way. The­re­fo­re, I express the hope that this sto­ry will bring many to the altar­pie­ce of Wit Stwosz and will allow a deep explo­ra­tion of the myste­ry of genius enc­lo­sed in the Marian reta­ble,’ sta­tes Rev. Dariusz Raś — Arch­priest of St. Mary­’s Basilica.

The publi­ca­tion was publi­shed in Polish and English. It can be pur­cha­sed in the sacri­sty of St Mary­’s Church, the Arkos shop and selec­ted bookshops.