How do you determine if an item is unique? There is no single definition. Of course, we can use the term to include any object that has no equivalent anywhere else and is the only known example in the museum. Therefore, objects belonging to historical figures should automatically be included in this group. Because of their attribution, they are often unique, even if there are other examples of a particular weapon or order in other museums or private collections. Here, however, we will focus on other features to show selected items from the past that are unique and can only be seen in the Weapons and Colours exhibition at the National Museum in Krakow.
How do you determine if an item is unique? There is no single definition. Of course, we can use the term to include any object that has no equivalent anywhere else and is the only known example in the museum. Therefore, objects belonging to historical figures should automatically be included in this group. Because of their attribution, they are often unique, even if there are other examples of a particular weapon or order in other museums or private collections. Here, however, we will focus on other features to show selected items from the past that are unique and can only be seen in the Weapons and Colours exhibition at the National Museum in Krakow.
Bechter is the name given to a suit of armour made of iron plates connected by chain mail. It is of Eastern origin, although it is not very common even in Oriental countries. Typically, bechters are in the form of a tunic, but the one in the Museum’s collection is in the form of a short men’s waistcoat with a characteristic lower part – an extra row of plates extending bell-shaped below the waist. This is a fashionable form of men’s clothing, characteristic of the years around 1560-1570. Our example also dates from this period.
What makes it unique? There is no other bechter in the world with this shape and the way the tiles were laid. Another peculiarity is the middle row, where the tiles are cut into a point, forming a distinct edge. This is also a characteristic element that can be seen on other armours in the display cases no. 2 and 3.
Researchers associate the place of origin of this armour with Poland, but we cannot rule out its foreign origin as well.
The National Museum in Krakow has one of the richest collections of swords, popularly known as “executioners’ swords”. Some of them have a symbolic role. The most important of them is the one marked with the number 4, which, according to tradition, once belonged to Krakow’s executioners. Its uniqueness lies in the decoration of the handle and its pommel. It is a massive brass disc in the shape of a star (or a sun disc). On the hilt we see symbols embossed in the leather in the form of a heraldic lily. Although we know of a small number of edged weapons with a similar pommel from other collections around the world, they are made of iron, not alloys. As far as we know, there is no other sword in the world that shares its appearance and hilt decoration with the Krakow Sword.
And if we add the fantastic legend of the beheading of the famous Samuel Zborowski with this sword in 1584, it turns out that we are dealing with an extraordinary object of ancient craftsmanship in the broadest sense of the word.
One of the horsemen, wearing chain armour, holds an object five metres long in his hand. It looks and is made in the same way as the hussar’s lance, except that instead of an arrowhead and a pennant, it is crowned with a ball, a fan of feathers and silk ribbons. It is a Hetman’s banner, usually used during ceremonial events in his presence, called bunchuk.
The one in the exhibition is associated with the figure of Hetman Hieronimus Augustus Lubomirski (1647-1706) and the period of the Third Northern War, namely the years 1702-1706, when he served as the Grand Hetman of the Crown.
The iconography of the 17th and 18th centuries is relatively rich in this kind of signs of the hetman’s dignity. Unfortunately, none of them has survived to the present day. The one in the Museum is the only one in Poland and only the second bunczuk of a Polish hetman in the world, apart from a copy in Swedish collections dating from around the same time.
An object resembling a shotgun, but with a massive barrel the size of a small cannon, was used to fire projectiles that today we could call grenades. Such a weapon is nothing out of the ordinary, but the decoration of the object in the National Museum’s collection is unusual and unique.
The Korczak coat of arms and the inscription “Pro Christo / Et Patria / Adam Goraiski / 1594 / De Gorai” were cast on the barrel, referring to Adam Gorajski (d. 1602), the founder of the town of Biłgoraj, one of the leading Calvinist activists in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, who, among other things, was involved in pro-royal politics during the reign of Stephen Batory.
While inscriptions on edged weapons, often given as gifts, are not surprising, similar inscriptions referring to historical figures on firearms are extremely rare. It is rather doubtful that the owner himself would have had his name stamped on the weapon. We can therefore assume that we are dealing with a souvenir made to commemorate Gorajski.
On the mannequin representing the armour of an armoured man, the hands are covered with vambraces, i.e. steel spoons that protect the forearms. The ones on display at the exhibition are complete because they have handguards, which look like a glove, placed on them.
These bracers are unique and it can be said with a high degree of certainty that there are no others like them in any other collection in the world. At first sight, they do not stand out from the others, they look like a typical product of Turkish or Persian weaponry, thanks to the eastern cartouches on their surface. However, the edges of the two bracers are unusual. A gold inlay of letters forming a Latin quotation from the Old Testament runs along them.
This is one of the most eloquent examples of the combination of influences from the East (decoration, adornment of armour with inscriptions) and the West (Latin inscriptions) in weapons.
This golden mace appears several times in other tours and publications that help visitors to the exhibition. It also has its own display case. It is not by chance that it has been awarded this distinction. Although it belongs to a group of ceremonial weapons that are present in the collections of many museums and have common characteristics (construction, decoration, shape of the shaft), this one stands out as the most beautiful of them all.
Traditionally associated with the figure of Hetman Jabłonowski, the mace is the only one made of gold with a high purity of 0.75, of which almost half a kilogram was used. The other known maces of the same type are usually made of silver and then gilded or iron-plated and covered with silver sheet.
This one, from the collection of the National Museum in Cracow, is a true work of jewellery art, not only for the material used, but also for the extraordinary precision of the decoration in the form of embossed floral patterns, dark niello and carving with precious stones.
The fabric that opens the second part of the exhibition is a tapestry made in the workshops of the Radziwił family in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the mid-18th century. What makes it unique? Although it cannot be compared with the famous tapestries of the 16th and 17th centuries or those made in European workshops, it is the most important work of Polish tapestry art. It was one of 13 tapestries depicting the history of the Radziwił family. It was the largest and most ambitious commission of its kind in the 18th century, and probably the largest in the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Today, only 5 works from the whole group have survived, the largest of which is in the National Museum in Cracow.
The “Review of the Troops at Zabłudów in 1744” presented here is also an important, perhaps the most important, iconographic source depicting the Lithuanian army in the mid-18th century. It contains many interesting and sometimes revealing details, invaluable for the knowledge of our historical material heritage.
Details about it can be found using the application prepared for this purpose:
The most valuable souvenir of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the collection of the National Museum in Krakow, apart from the tapestry “Review of the Troops at Zabłudów in 1744”, is a grenadier’s cap of the Lithuanian Foot Guard Regiment from around 1732.
It is a typical model of the period, which was also used in Prussia, Austria, England, Saxony and Russia. The hats from each country differed in details, but they were all characterised by a domed crown and a high plate on the forehead. The one from the Lithuanian Foot Guard Regiment is decorated with the four-field coat of arms of the Republic of Poland, the Wettin coat of arms and the star of the Order of the White Eagle.
This is the oldest preserved uniform element in Polish collections!
The Star of the Grand Cross of the Military Virtues is a real treasure among the memorabilia of the general and commander-in-chief of the Polish army, Józef Poniatowski (1763-1813), in the collections of the National Museum.
This silver and enamel star is the most valuable object in the Museum’s phaleristic collection and one of the most valuable in the country. The star, which is the highest award of this Polish military order, was the first and only one to be awarded to a Pole in the history of the decoration from its creation in 1792 until 1922, when Józef Piłsudski was also awarded the Star of the Grand Cross of the Virtuti Militari. Two stars of General Poniatowski have survived to this day. The one seen here is the only one intended for a formal uniform, and is often depicted in portraits of ‘Prince Pepi’, whose death during the Napoleonic Wars perpetuated his cult in Polish historiography.
Benedykt Denis Kołyszko (born between 1749 and 1754, died 1834) is presented at the exhibition with a group of several important memorabilia. Apart from the uniform, in the display case marked with the number 23, there are also his Virtuti Militari cross and a ring with the inscription “Oyczyzna Obrońcy Swemu” (“Fatherland to
It is difficult to choose the most interesting of the memorabilia preserved after his death, but the uniform described here is certainly one of the most important. It is of fundamental importance for our knowledge of the old military uniform in Poland. Sewn in the national colours of crimson and navy blue, it has a cut typical of the Polish uniform, with such features as: a standing, turned-down collar, rolled up sleeves and tail, and lapels on the chest. A keen eye will also notice significant silver thread embroidery on the collar and sleeves, characteristic of the Polish uniform, indicating the general’s rank.
This outfit is unique as it is the oldest surviving 18th century Polish general’s uniform.