After a cartoon by followers of Cornelis Floris (1514-1575)
Brussels, ca. 1560
Wool, silk, silver and gilded thread: 153 cm x 292 cm
Krakow, Royal Castle of Wawel, Inv.-No. 82
copyrigt © Zamek Królewski na Wawelu/Königsschloss auf dem Wawel
Foto: Stanisław Michta
Sigismund II. August, der letzte Jagiellone auf dem Thron von Polen-Litauen, strebte eine engere Verbindung zwischen Polen und Litauen an.
Sigismund II August, the last Jagiellon on the Polish-Lithuanian throne, tried to deepen the connections between Poland and Lithuania. The apex of policies was the 1569 legal union of the two countries, which was decreed at Lublin and lasted until the partition of Poland at the end of the eighteenth century. Sigismund August commissioned this tapestry from a manufactory in Brussels as decoration for the royal apartments in the Wawel. It depicts the arms of Poland (a white eagle emblazoned with the ruler’s monogram “SR”) and Lithuania (the white knight). The two coats of arms flank a winged Victoria.
Anna Ziemlewska