The Diocesan Museum in Pelplin ( pl, Muzeum Diecezjalne w Pelplinie) holds one of the finest collections of

medieval art The medieval art of the Western world covers a vast scope of time and place, over 1000 years of art in Europe, and at certain periods in Western Asia and Northern Africa. It includes major art movements and periods, national and regional art, gen ...

in Poland. It is located in the town of

Pelplin Pelplin (; csb, Pôłplëno; formerly German also: ''Pelplin'') is a town in northern Poland, in the Tczew County, Pomeranian Voivodship. Population: 8,320 (2009). Pelplin is located in the ethnocultural region of Kociewie in Pomerania. It is hom ...

Tczew County __NOTOC__ Tczew County ( pl, powiat tczewski, csb, Dërszewo kréj) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Pomeranian Voivodeship, northern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish ...

(

Pomeranian Voivodeship Pomeranian Voivodeship, Pomorskie Region, or Pomerania Province (Polish: ''Województwo pomorskie'' ; ( Kashubian: ''Pòmòrsczé wòjewództwò'' ), is a voivodeship, or province, in northwestern Poland. The provincial capital is Gdańsk. The ...

) and is managed by the

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Pelplin The Diocese of Pelplin ( la, Pelplinen(sis); csb, Pelplińskô diecezjô) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese located in the city of Pelplin, Poland. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of metropolitan Arc ...

. It bears the name of Bishop Stanisław Wojciech Okoniewski (1870–1944), the founder of the museum ''( pl)'', who died in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

during World War II. Founded in the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...

in 1928 during the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...

, the collections have been housed in a modern-style building complex since 1988.

Museum collections

The largest part of the collections are

Gothic sculpture Gothic sculpture was a sculpture style that flourished in Europe during the Middle Ages, from about mid-12th century to the 16th century,The chronology of the period varies significantly according to the source consulted evolving from Romanesque ar ...

s from the churches of the former Diocese of Kulm renamed in 1925 as the Bishopric of Pelplin, and also from the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Toruń The Roman Catholic Diocese of Toruń ( la, Thorunien(sis)) is a diocese located in the city of Toruń in the Ecclesiastical province of Gdańsk in Poland. History * March 25, 1992: Established as Diocese of Toruń from the Diocese of Chelmno an ...

. Late

Gothic painting Gothic art was a style of medieval art that developed in Northern France out of Romanesque art in the 12th century AD, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, and much of Northern, Southern and ...

s of "Crucifixion" from Lignowy (gilded with gold leaf), "Flagellation" (1380), and "

Descent from the Cross The Descent from the Cross ( el, Ἀποκαθήλωσις, ''Apokathelosis''), or Deposition of Christ, is the scene, as depicted in art, from the Gospels' accounts of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking Christ down from the cross after hi ...

" (1495) from the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in

Toruń )'' , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_flag = POL Toruń flag.svg , image_shield = POL Toruń COA.svg , nickname = City of Angels, Gingerbread city, Copernicus Town , pushpin_map = Kuyavian-Pom ...

, are supplemented with original art by Hermann Hahn (1570–1628) and Andreas Stech (1635–1697).Muzeum Diecezjalne (2017)
Sztuka Średniowiecza. Sztuka Nowożytna.
Pelplin. The museum received generous financial support from the

Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego) is a governmental administration office concerned with various aspects of Polish culture. It was formed on 31 October 200 ...

for the preventive conservation of paintings from 1420 to 1695. The

Gutenberg Bible The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42) was the earliest major book printed using mass-produced movable metal type in Europe. It marked the start of the "Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of printed b ...

(''pictured below'') held by the museum, originally from the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

Lubawa Lubawa (german: Löbau in Westpreußen, Old Prussian: ''Lūbawa'') is a town in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland. It is located in Iława County on the Sandela River, some southeast of Iława. Geographical location Lubawa is located i ...

, is one of only 48 copies which survived to modern times. Of those, only 20 are complete, and are worth up to $100 million each. It is one of only nine copies surviving in its original 15th century binding,^{. 157/sup> which was added by Henricus Coster of Lübeck. It is printed on both sides of 641 sheets of paper (folio

The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...
s), in two columns measuring 285 mm × 85 mm each, with 40–42 verses, for the total of 1,282 pages of text. Leaves are inserted between some gatherings. See also:

During its printing, a loose typesetting sort
Sort may refer to:
* Sorting, any process of arranging items in sequence or in sets
** Sorting algorithm, any algorithm for arranging elements in lists
** Sort (Unix), a Unix utility which sorts the lines of a file
** Sort (C++), a function in the ...
fell upon a page of this copy and made a mark. This unique feature of the Pelplin Bible enabled scholars to deduce the shape of Gutenberg's type. The binding consists of two beveled oak boards covered in red goat leather, with five brass buttons, corner fittings and buckles fastened to leather straps. The Bible from Pelplin was rescued during World War II

World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
by the Polish government, and came to Canada through Paris and London. Kept in a vault at the Bank of Montreal in Ottawa, it was not returned to Poland until 1959.

The museum collections of early prints include the priceless manuscript of St. Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...
from 425 titled " ''De civitate Dei''". '' lso in:' The collections of the venerated objects of piety contain monstrance

A monstrance, also known as an ostensorium (or an ostensory), is a vessel used in Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, High Church Lutheran and Anglican churches for the display on an altar of some object of piety, such as the consecrated Eucharistic Sa ...
s and reliquaries

A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including '' phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it is housed a ''fer ...
from the workshops of Gdańsk, Toruń, and Nuremberg. The collections also include liturgical garments, such as vestment

Vestments are liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christian religion, especially by Eastern Churches, Catholics (of all rites), Anglicans, and Lutherans. Many other groups also make use of liturgical garments; this ...
s and dalmatic

The dalmatic is a long, wide-sleeved tunic, which serves as a liturgical vestment in the Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, United Methodist, and some other churches. When used, it is the proper vestment of a deacon at Mass, Holy Communion or other se ...
s.

Gallery

File:Kopia Pelplin Muzeum Diecezjalne 088.jpg
File:Kopia Pelplin Muzeum Diecezjalne 069.jpg
File:Pelplin Muzeum Diecezjalne 026.jpg
File:Pelplin Muzeum Diecezjalne 003.jpg
Kopia Pelplin Muzeum Diecezjalne 064.jpg
File:Muzeum Pelplin 1.jpg
File:Pelplin Muzeum Diecezjalne 039.jpg
File:20100701 Pelpin, muzeum, altair.jpg
File:20100701 Pelpin, muzeum, painting, 2.jpg
File:20100701 Pelpin, muzeum, sculpture, 2.jpg

Notes

References

* Muzeum Diecezjalne
Historia.
Pelplin.
* Muzeum Diecezjalne
Sztuka Średniowiecza.
Pelplin.
* Muzeum Diecezjalne
Sztuka Nowożytna.
Pelplin.
* Muzeum Diecezjalne
Tkaniny.
Pelplin.
* Muzeum Diecezjalne
Skarbiec.
Pelplin.
* Muzeum Diecezjalne
Biblia Gutenberga.
Pelplin.
* Muzeum Diecezjalne
Pracownia Konserwatorska.
Pelplin.
* Culture.pl
Muzeum Diecezjalne w Pelplinie.
*

Further reading

* Roman Ciecholewski: ''Skarby Pelplina'', Wydaw. Diecezjalne, Pelplin 1997, .
* Roman Ciecholewski: ''Quis ut Deus. Treasures from the Diocesan Museum Pelplin''. Art at the time of the Teutonic Order: Nordostdeutsches Kulturwerk, Lüneburg, 2000; .
* Bogna Derkowska-Kostkowska, Szczepan Warmijak: ''Gotycka rzeźba pomorska i starodruki z XV wieku ze zbiorów Muzeum Diecezjalnego i Biblioteki Diecezjalnej w Pelplinie'' (Gothic Pomeranian Sculpture and Early Prints), Muzeum Okręgowe in the. Leona Wyczółkowskiego w Bydgoszczy, Bydgoszcz

Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...
, MO, 1992.

External links

*

{{authority control

1928 establishments in Poland
Art museums and galleries in Poland
Art museums established in 1928
Catholic Church in Poland}