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Did you know that The coat of arms of a city as a sign of its possession This is the “Zadora” coat of arms, used by the founders of Gorlice, the Karwacjanie. According to Marcin Kromer, the city was founded in 1355, with the consent of Casimir the Great, by Dziersław I Karwacjan... |
 House mark of Stanisław Amenda This is a trademark of one of the richest Olkusz gwarek, that is, entrepreneurs who organized the mining and production of lead and silver. |
 Escutcheon of Gorlice city This consists of an oval shield, which decorated the entrance to the municipal council of Gorlice from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The shield has numerous bullet holes, being clear evidence of the battles which took place in the city and its surroundings for six months, at the turn of 1914 and 1915. |
 Chalice with coats of arms “Pogoń” and “Szreniawa” This is one of the tallest glass goblets preserved in Polish collections, fully covered with a cut design, the so-called carp scales, a decoration that is unique in its kind, typical only of products made in the Crystal Glassworks in Lubaczów. |
 Crucifix for swearing in city counsellors The silver cross with a full figure of Christ, placed on a cuboid profiled plinth, decorated with plaques with the coat of arms of Kraków (SIGILLUM CIVITATIS CRACOVIAE METROPOLIS REGNI POLONIAE) and the coat of arms of the Segnitz family. |
 Wax seal of the imperial and royal (C.K.) District Starost (head of district) The seal consists of a wooden handle and a brass seal matrix. The handle is made of wood, painted dark. The seal presses the coat of arms of the Austria-Hungary Empire, the so-called small version of coat of arms, which was in force from 1815 until 1915. It is surrounded by an inscription: “IMPERIAL AND ROYAL (C.K.) DISTRICT STAROST K.K. BEZIRKSHAUPTMANN WADOWICE” in a sealing wax. |
 Over Door Tapestry with the Arms of Poland on landscape background with Animals ‒ Beaver and Porcupine One of sixteen over-door and over-window tapestries with the coats of arms of both parts of the Commonwealth. They were counterparts of large heraldic tapestries and their purpose was to fill the castle with heraldic motifs of national importance. Their format was adapted to the architecture of Wawel. They were produced as part of the programme for complete decoration of representative chambers with Brussels tapestries. |
 The document with the seal of hetman Jan Tarnowski A parchment with texts in Latin, issued in Wiewiórka, a holiday residence of the Tarnowski family. Suspended on an olive coloured rope is the knight seal of Jan Tarnowski – round, made of red wax, in a wax bowl of a natural colour, with an image of the Leliwa coat of arms, which functions as a symbol of Tarnów to this today, with the legend “IOANNIS COMES IN TARNOW.” |
 Manuscript “The privilege of Jan Zapolya for citizens of Tarnów” with a seal On the 29th of September 1528, in the castle in Tarnów, John, the King of Hungary, Dalmatia, and Croatia, Margrave of Moravia and Lusatia, Duke of Silesia, granted the town of Tarnów, in return for the hospitality provided by Jan, Count of Tarnów, Voivode of Rus, 500 florins of annual income derived from the Košice tricesima, which was a fee charged from merchants entering the Kingdom of Hungary. |
 Pitcher of the City Council of Tarnów Among the memorabilia of the old town authorities stored in the collection of the Museum in Tarnów, a special place is occupied by a set of three identical tin jugs. These vessels were created in Gdańsk in 1639, probably in the workshop of the master Assmus Virian. |
 Renaissance plate This plate was originally located above the entrance gate to the city of Biecz. It belonged to Mikołaj Ligęza from Bobrek (c. 1530–1603) who obtained the position of starosta (district governor) of Biecz in 1561, through his marriage to Elżbieta née Jordan, and in 1575 – the position of the governor of Biecz Province from Jan Tarło. |
Did you know that Splendour, Representation, and Politics – Heraldic and Monogram and Tapestries Decorating walls with precious textiles added grandeur and significance to modest interiors. It is known from preserved descriptions and inventories that European rulers highly valued this artwork and loved being surrounded with tapestries since they added splendour to their owners. Tapestries were ordered for specific chambers of a ruler's residence as they performed relevant functions in a given space, expressed through the subject matter of their presentations. A special place in the entire collection of Sigismund II Augustus was occupied by monogram and heraldic tapestries, commissioned probably after 1553 (around 1555). Their subject matter and set of motifs expressed a precisely defined agenda directly related to the person of the ruler and his country. |
 Set of twelve spoons with busts of the Apostles and the Szeliga and Przeginia coats of arms The preserved Polish inventories dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries inform of a rather high number of silver and gold spoons being the property of the royal court, the Polish aristocracy, the nobility and the bourgeoisie. |
 Glass feudal coin A bright green coin made of glass which constituted as a substitute for legal tender within the territory of the dominion of the Koryciński family of the Topór [Axe] coat of arms from Jodłowa. Inside a glass disc there was the Koryciński coat of arms in the shape of an embossed axe; above it there is a crown with nine tops. |
 Commemorative pink glass Most probably, the glass shows the bust of Adolf Starzeński, commemorating his participation in the Polish national uprising against Russia at the turn of 1830 and 1831... |
 Counter for writing accessories of a city scribe The counter of the City Council is a chest which served counsellors for storing the Mayor’s ring (stamp) and writing accessories (today a nib holder, an inkpot and a sand-box have been preserved) and perhaps other valuable documents and precious items belonging to the city. |
 Over-Window Tapestry with the Arms of Poland on a Landscape Background with Animals ‒ a Dormouse and a Dog-like Predator In the centre of the textile, a shield with the coat of arms of Poland – the White Eagle – is suspended by flower garlands. The Eagle has the royal monogram SA on its chest. On the left side, a dormouse sits, while on the right, there is a small dog-like predator. The rectangular textile is topped with an arc, as it was used to decorate a window recess. |
 Over Window Tapestry with the Arms of Lithuania on landscape background with Animals ‒ Dormouse and a Dog-like Predator Another tapestry of a group of over-door and over-window textiles with the national coat of arms. Its size indicates that it was to be placed in a wide window bay. Eleven tapestries designed for this purpose have been preserved. The tapestry was used in Russia (in the years 1795–1922) as the covering of a sofa seat (a heraldic tapestry with the White Eagle was attached to the sofa's backrest). In 1922, during the recovery of the Sigismund collection, both tapestries were repossessed along with the furniture. |
 Candlestick of the so-called “Swan Set” The so-called Swan Set, the most famous of porcelain sets, was made in the Royal Manufactory in Meissen during the years 1737–1742, on the commission of Heinrich, Count von Brühl, later the First Minister of Augustus III. |
 Over Door Tapestry with the Arms of Lithuania on landscape background with Animals ‒ a Spotted Hyena and a Monkey This textile was designed to be hung over a door, hence its shape – a rectangle topped with an arc. In its centre, there is the coat of arms of Lithuania – the Charging Knight, turned to the left. The arms are surmounted by the grand ducal cap and suspended on floral garlands. Exotic animals are presented on either side of the coat of arms: on the left, a small predator prowls around, while on the right, a sits monkey that seems to be staring at the viewer. In the background of the tapestry, an immature forest can be seen. |
