page_title: Royal Castle, Warsaw
section_title: Late Baroque period
hierarchical_section_title: Royal Castle, Warsaw / History / Late Baroque period
context_page_description: The Royal Castle in Warsaw is a royal residence that formerly served throughout the centuries as the official home of Polish monarchs. It is situated in Castle Square, at the entrance to the Warsaw Old Town. The personal offices of the king and the administrative offices of the royal court were located in the Castle from the 16th century until the final partition of Poland in 1795.
  Initially, the fortified complex served as the residence of the Masovian dukes. In the early 1600s, it was designated to replace Wawel Castle in Kraków as the seat of the King, Parliament, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The medieval Gothic structure was remodelled into Italian mannerism by architects Matteo Castelli and Giovanni Battista Trevano. The Baroque easternmost wing was designed by Gaetano Chiaveri and completed in 1747.
  The Royal Castle witnessed many notable events in Poland's history; the Constitution of 3 May 1791, first of its type in Europe and the world's second-oldest codified national constitution, was drafted here by the Four-Year Parliament.
context_section_description: In 1657 the reconstruction of the castle started, under the Italian architect Izydor Affait's guidance. Because of the lack of money the following Polish king, Michael I Korybut did not decide on radical rebuilding, just limiting himself to rebuilding destroyed buildings. Because of bad conditions of the residence he had to move to Ujazdów Castle in 1669. Until 1696 when the next Polish king, John III Sobieski died, no serious works were done. They only limited work to current inspections of the building's condition. Sessions of Parliament continued to be held in the castle, as well as various State occasions, such as when the Hohenzollern Dukes of Prussia paid homage to the Kings of Poland and occasions when the king received the ambassadors of foreign countries.
  After choosing Augustus II in an election in 1697, the castle again began to deteriorate. A new conflict with the King of Sweden, Charles XII significantly limited the king's budget. Despite problems, in 1698 Augustus II commissioned a residence reconstruction project. In 1700 it was done by Johann Friedrich Karcher, who came from abroad. On 25 May 1702 the Swedes re-seized the Royal Castle in Warsaw, creating a hospital with 500 beds, and into The Chamber of Deputies and ministers' rooms, they placed a stable. During the Polish army's siege in 1704 the castle was retaken. However, it was soon retaken once more by Sweden's army. In 1707, by virtue of the peace treaty between Augustus II and Charles XII of Sweden, Russian allied troops entered Warsaw, and Tsar Peter I of Russia settled in the castle. After two months, Russian forces were removed from Warsaw, taking with them works of art from the castle, including Tommaso Dolabella's pictures, which included two that were very important for Russians: The Defense of Smolensk and Russian Tsar Vasili IV compelled to kneel before Polish King Sigismund III of Poland. The Władysław's Opera Hall was completely devastated and was never restored.
  The reconstruction according to Karcher's plans began from 1713–1715. In 1717 the Parliament Hall was completely rebuilt. It was used to serve the Saxon rulers as a coronation hall. During the following years, between 1722–1723, the other castle halls were converted-under the direction of architect Joachim Daniel von Jauch, the new Senate Chamber was built, and all the furnishings moved from the old to the new location, including among others: 60 Polish provincial emblems, panelling, mouldings and lesene. On 31 May 1732, a fire broke out in the castle destroying the west elevation and part of the Sigismund's Tower and the exterior façade sculptures, known as armature.
  The next reconstruction project of the Royal Castle appeared after Augustus III took to the Polish throne in 1733. New plans, which were formed in 1734 and developed in 1737 by architect Gaetano Chiaveri, saw among other things, the reconstruction of the castle's façade on the Vistula side in the rococo style, which was meant to form a new so called Saxon elevation and also the conversion of the north-east part with the Altana Tower, where it was planned for 3 two-storey avant-corps (risalto) to be built on. The reconstruction work according to these plans was carried out with various intensity between 1740 and 1752. During the period of 1740–1747 the façade on the Vistula side was reconstructed in the late baroque style (architects: Gaetano Chiaveri, Carl Friedrich Pöppelmann, Jan Krzysztof Knöffel). One of the best sculptors who did work on the castle in this period was Jan Jerzy Plersch, who made the royal decorative frames, mouldings and statues called the Famous Figures, which held the royal crowns on the top of the middle risalto, of the Saxon elevation, on the Vistula side. The last reconstruction work of this period was finished by late 1763, after the death of Augustus III, when Plersch made the last sculptures and frames with province emblems for the Parliament Hall.
caption: Design of the Eastern wing by G. Chiaveri.
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