Conservation and restoration works in the Quiet Room – stage ll

The Quiet Room is a room in the Wilanów Palace located directly above the King’s Bedroom. The walls and vault of this low interior are covered with illusionistic 17th-century frescos, ascribed to Jerzy Eleuter Szymonowicz-Siemiginowski. Unfortunately, these frescos, subject to many conservation interventions in the past, were so damaged that they needed repeated restoration. Given that previous interventions took place more than half a century ago, the paintings needed in-depth conservation and restoration.

“The revitalisation of buildings and the conservation of collections across Royal Residence Museums”, a General Monument Conservator programme initiated by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, facilitated the first stage in the conservation and restoration works on the polychromies in the Quiet Room. With a number of retouches, paint-overs and reconstructions removed, the paintings showed the full extent of the damage they had suffered over the centuries. Conservers filled in the bottom layer of the lime and sand mortar to merge its colour with the surrounding polychromies. As a result, following this stage the interior retained only parts of the original frescos made in King Jan III’s times. The currently available funds made it possible to work on colour restorations of the missing fragments of the illusionist paintings on the walls and the plafond.