The St. Anne Chapel was built during the enlargement of the High Castle in 1334-1344. From the moment of its erection it was treated as the burial site of the Grand Masters of the Teutonic Knights Order — eleven highest monastic dignitaries were buried here. From 1457 it probably no longer fulfilled religious functions and as a result was slowly forgotten. In the 1895-1912 period conservation of the chapel was conducted under the supervision of Konrad Steinbrecht, an architect. In accordance with his conceptions, the interior was re-Gothicised and turned into a mausoleum commemorating the men buried there. This purpose was served by numerous decorations i. a. coats of arms hung on the walls, a polychromy depicting homage made to the Virgin and Child by monastic dignitaries who fell on the battlefield of Grunwald, and stained glass windows with motifs portraying the good deeds of the knights-monks. The restored object witnessed many ceremonies: in 1901 wreaths were placed on the tombs of the Grand Masters upon the anniversay of the Battle of Grunwald and thirteen years later the funeral of Konrad Steinbrecht took place here. During the inter-war period, the chapel was one of the most attractive parts of the castle. The neo-Gothic decorations, discussed in this article, introduced into the interior an air of solemnity and reflections on the past history of the Order. At the end of the second world war they were seriously damaged. At the moment, construction work (the plastering of the vaults) is almost completed. After indispensable conservation of the remnants of the medieval and nineteenth-century decorations, the interior will be open to visitors. Once again, it has an opportunity to become one of the most interesting displays in the castle.
The Malbork Castle is an example of the subjugation of a historical monument and its conservation to ideological goals. After the first partition of Poland in 1772 Malbork found itself within the borders of the Prussian monarchy. The castle, up to then never intentionally destroyed, was pulled down and re-designed. The devastation was halted in 1803 thanks to the propaganda campaign launched by young German Romantics. Since 1817 the tide of patriotic upheaval favoured the castle's restoration, transforming Malbork into a national sanctuary of Prussia. Supervision over the work was entrusted to Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The architecture of the first stage in the restoration of Malbork was typical for Romantic historicism and linked Classical composition schemes with a neo-Gothic appearance. In the wake of the unification of Germany in 1871 the castle was to symbolise the German military 'Drang nach Osten' trend and comprise one of the monuments of the revived empire. From 1855 the castle was fortified, thus restoring its status of a fortress within the defensive system of Eastern Prussia. The second stage of the work (1882-1922) was steered by Conrad Emmanuel Steinbrecht, who adhered to the purist spirit represented by Viollet-le-Duc. The intention was to change the castle into an idealized symbolic seat of the Teutonic Knights. Only traces remain of Steinbrecht's work, destroyed in 1945, but we owe the present-day shape of Malbork to his vision. Taking into consideration the historical context of the existence and annihilation of the castle, the decisions of the Polish authorities concerning its reconstruction reflect an astoundingly pragmatic approach and far-sightedness. They became part of the Polonisation and re-Polonisation of monuments of value from the propaganda viewpoint and obtained due to the altered shape of the territory of the Polish state in 1945. In this respect, contemporary Malbork remains an ideological monument fulfilling political functions. From the technical and conservation viewpoint the remnants of mediaeval and nineteenth-century architecture have been reintegrated and restored. Today, these salvaged remnants contain the value and authenticity of Malbork as a monument of European culture. All other components are contemporary supplements, which, however, are already assuming the status of monuments. They carry a clear-cut message and deserve to be protected against the pseudo-conservation and architectural neo-historicism, inspired by political and economic conditions, which results in the devastation of monuments or their reduction to the level of tawdry and media-oriented attractions.
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