Szembekowska kaplica Najświętszego Salwatora przy katedrze we Fromborku jako palladium Świętej Warmii
Szembek Chapel of the Holy Savior at the cathedral in Frombork as the Palladium of Holy Warmia

Summary/Abstract: From the foundation of the bishop of Warmia, Krzysztof Andrzej Jan Szembek from Słupów (1680–1740), the bishop of Warmia in the years 1724–1740, a chapel was built at the cathedral in Frombork. It was named for Holy Savior and St. Theodore the Martyr (Theodor of Amazja), but often called Szembekowska. The oratory is an example of a central dome structure. It was built as both a reliquary chapel and burial place of its founder. The central point of the chapel is the reliquary retable, set in 1734 in the southern arcade. On the mensa, was placed a sarcophagus with visors and silver applications with the relics of the early Christian martyr St. Theodore of Amasia. It is accompanied by numerous relics of various saints and wax agnus placed in black, wooden, glazed reliquaries, richly decorated with silver, trimmed applications. Their silver fittings and decorations were made in the years around 1730–1743 by the Olsztyn goldsmith Jan Krzysztof Geese (†1761) and Samuel Grewe, active in Königsberg in the years 1712–1750. The entire interior of the chapel is covered with frescoes made around 1735 by Maciej Jan Meyer (Matthias Johann Meyer) from Lidzbark Warmiński. The chapel with a consciously chosen shape, properly selected relics, an appropriate painting decoration covering the interior, a copy of the national palladium, which is the miraculous image of Our Lady of Częstochowa, and a rich endowment for the needs of the liturgy celebrated there, was from the very beginning, in Bishop Szembek’s intention, built as a place to protect Holy Warmia from the dangers threatening it from dissenters.

• Details
• Contents