EN
As soon as the reconstruction of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, destroyed during the 2nd World War, had been initiated work was also undertaken to open a sculptor’s studio attached to the Ateliers for the Conservation of Cultural Property (the PKZ). Its task was to reconstruct rich sculptural decorations made in stone and lime coat. The entire sculptural decor of the Saxon side of the Royal Castle was created in the reign of King Augustus III and comme from Jan Jerzy Plersch's workshop. A number of renowned sculptors, masters in the technology of stone working, took up the job to reconstruct baroque and rococo sculptural complexes in the Castle. They based their work on the rescued parts of the sculptures and preserved photographs. Afte r the modelling in clay and casting in plaster of 17 big sculptures, the artists started forging them in stone (sandstone from Szydłowiec). They used the same k ind of tools th a t were used by artificers of origina l works in the 18th century. The coating technique was employed direct onto the Castle’s elevation to produce two large tympana, each 22 m in length as well as all window bas-reliefs imitating plaster models made earlier in the workshop in the scale of 1:1. The restitution of the Royal Castle gave birth to a new generation of sculptors-restorers and reconstruction, educated under supervision of experienced masters.