The Great Assembly Hall

Look at the two sculptures at the far end. Apollo with the features of the king and Minerva with those of Catherine the Great of Russia were carved by André Le Brun, the king's court sculptor, and remind you that Stanisław August owed his crown to the empress. The columns are of golden stucco marble, the capitals gilded bronze, and the wall panels carry trophies and garlands in the classical taste that the king brought from Paris and Rome. The ceiling you see is a reconstruction of Bacciarelli's original, which perished in the fire of nineteen thirty nine, painted after his sketches and photographs.

The room was finished in seventeen eighty one and was completely destroyed when the Germans dynamited the castle in nineteen forty four. Before that, museum staff had managed to cut out fragments of the decoration and carry them away, so that pieces of the original capitals and stucco could be set back into the rebuilt walls. Look for the difference in colour where old and new meet. The hall reopened in nineteen eighty four and is still used for state ceremonies, so on some days you may find it closed for a reception.

Did You Know? The statue of Apollo has the face of the king and the Minerva beside it the face of Catherine the Great, the empress who put him on the throne.