The oldest wooden statues from St. Mary Church in Gdansk were made about 1420 by a local artists, for the chapel of elite Fraternity of St. George.
In-depth restoration treatment of St. George Group was carried out in two stages (2015/2016).
The oldest wooden statues from St. Mary Church in Gdansk were made about 1420 by a local artists, for the chapel of elite Fraternity of St. George.
In-depth restoration treatment of St. George Group was carried out in two stages (2015/2016).
The main conservation problem was a non historical reconstruction added some thirty years ago.
Additionally, when in 2015 two original rocks were found in the storage, the Group became bigger, and could be no longer exhibited in the original location without decorative base.
To precisely provide which elements are original a radiography of figures from St. George Group was conducted.
Radiography is a useful tool for studying how historical three dimensional object were created.
In this case X-ray analysis revealed a shape of reconstructed horse’s forehead, helped localize wooden parts of figures or find metal nails used to join elements.
To expose sculptures in the original place - an oak base with maswerk ornaments and painted coats of arms were reconstructed. Only middle quarter, which originally presented painting with St. George, was not reconstructed. This is in the plan of a third stage of a treatment.
After using methods to reduce the rate of deterioration, reconstructed parts were replaced with the new ones, based on archival photography.
