The Throne Room redesigned to mark the Castle's jubilee

In 2024 we conclude the four-year celebration of the 50th anniversary of the reconstruction of the Royal Castle in Warsaw. One of the accents planned for their culmination is the new version of the Throne Room - an interior whose decoration during the reign of Stanisław August Poniatowski most fully represented the majesty of the King and the Commonwealth. The decoration, the individual elements of which were specially commissioned in Lyon, was a masterpiece of embroidery craftsmanship, with 86 silver-embroidered eagles as its main motif. The most tragic moment in the history of the Throne Room was during World War II, when the Royal Castle was blown up by the Germans in September 1944. In the Castle, which was rebuilt after the war, the Throne Room remained without its full decoration for a long time. It was only after finding one of the eagles that once adorned the throne's frame that work could be undertaken to restore the hall's historic appearance.

The Throne Room is part of the Great Apartment - the representative interiors which were given their final shape by the last Polish king, Stanisław August Poniatowski. It is maintained in the classicist style appropriate to its era, distinguished by moderation and elegance while retaining the richness of decoration necessary to emphasise the royal splendour. It was here that the king received his official guests, who were to be impressed not only by his majesty but also by his good taste. Entering the Throne Room, resplendent with a multitude of gilding, was the highlight of a visit to the royal court. A team of artists permanently associated with the royal court was responsible for its decoration, with Dominik Merlini, Jan Chrystian Kamsetzer and Jan Bogumił Plersch playing the most prominent role among them. The design was implemented in the years 1784-1786.

The Throne Room, a symbol of the power of the Polish monarchy, gained its unique decoration in 1786, when King Stanisław August Poniatowski commissioned a masterpiece of embroidery craftsmanship from the Lyon-based manufactory Camille Pernon & Cie, which supplied luxurious silks and embroideries to royal courts throughout Europe. Marcello Bacciarelli, court painter, who also acted as supervisor of the royal collections and buildings, supervised the execution of the commission on behalf of the Polish king.

The centrepiece of the decoration was the 86 silver-embroidered eagles - symbols of state power - that adorned the royal throne's frame. They were placed regularly over the entire surface of the backrest and ceiling of the throne canopy, upholstered with dark crimson velvet.

After the fall of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the eagles were repainted in black, Prussian colours, and during the period of the Duchy of Warsaw they were cleaned. They decorated the Throne Hall during the period of the Congress Kingdom of Poland, but in 1831 they were taken to Moscow. They were returned to the Castle under the provisions of the Treaty of Riga, but in October 1939 they were stolen by the Nazi occupiers. Eagles from the backrest of the throne have been sought since the decision was made to rebuild the Royal Castle. It was not until 1991 that one eagle returned to the Castle, donated by Zygmunt Nagorski, who found it and bought it from its subsequent owners. This made it possible to reconstruct the decorations.

Embroidered with silver and gold thread, beading and sequins, the crowned eagles are an example of the reconstruction of objects of historical artistic craftsmanship of the highest order, faithful to the original both in terms of manufacturing technique and materials used. It took an average of three months to restore a single specimen, and the project involved many specialists from the team of the Royal Castle's Textile Conservation Studio in Warsaw. They also relied on source materials, including Marcello Bacciarelli's correspondence with the Lyon manufactory, an order and a bill for the decoration. Reconstruction work, divided into phases and aimed at restoring the Throne Room's embroidery decoration, began in 1993, and in 1995, 59 eagles were returned to the backrest, but at the time the rest of the decoration was done on a temporary basis. The currently completed phase included the installation of embroidered eagles on the canopy ceiling and the reconstruction of the valances with tassels and rosettes.

Until 11 November, in a specially prepared display case in the Throne Room, visitors could admire the preserved embroidered eagle from the pre-war decoration, which became the prototype for the restoration of the entire project.

The presentation of the Throne Room in its new version coincides with the end of a four-year celebration of the castle's jubilee, stretching between the 50th anniversary of the beginning of work on the reconstruction of the Castle and the 40th anniversary of the interiors being opened to visitors.