Sigismund's Chapel () is a royal

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

of the Wawel Cathedral in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Built as a funerary chapel for the last members of the Jagiellonian Dynasty, it has been hailed by many art historians as "the most beautiful example of the Tuscan

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

north of the Alps". Financed by King Sigismund I the Old, it was built in 1519–33 by Italian architect Bartolomeo Berrecci. A square-based chapel with a golden dome houses the tombs of its founder King Sigismund, as well as King Sigismund II Augustus and

Anna Jagiellon Anna Jagiellon (, ; 18 October 1523 – 9 September 1596) was King of Poland, Queen of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Grand Duchess of Lithuania from 1575 to 1587. Daughter of Polish King and Lithuanian Grand Duke Sigismund I the Ol ...

. The inner sculptures, stuccos and paintings were designed by some of the most renowned artists of the age, including the architect Berrecci himself, Georg Pencz, Santi Gucci and Hermann Vischer.

Gallery

File:Poland-01779 - Anna's tomb (31970703362).jpg, An elaborate and gilded tombstone of Queen

File:Dome of the Sigismund Chapel in Cracow.jpg, Coffered dome of the chapel photographed in 1951 File:Kraków Wawel Chapel Window.jpg, Window decoration and a spire sit atop the dome File:Kraków - Wawel - Orzeł Zygmunta Starego.jpg, Polish white eagle with Sigismund I the Old's monogram "S" File:Nagrobek Zygmunta Starego i Zygmunta Augusta.jpg, Tomb monument of Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II Augustus in the Chapel

References

{{Coord, 50.05464, N, 19.935435, E, source:dewiki_region:PL-MA_type:landmark, format=dms, display=title Religious buildings and structures completed in 1533 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Poland Roman Catholic churches in Kraków Church buildings with domes 1533 establishments in Europe Roman Catholic chapels in Poland Royal chapels 16th-century establishments in Poland Renaissance architecture in Kraków

Gallery

See also

References