The first exhibition in the UK to focus on the Jagiellonians has opened at the Weston Library

renaissance royal wedding poster
a renaissance royal wedding

Dr Natalia Nowakowska at the opening of the A Renaissance Royal Wedding: The Italian Princess & the Polish King Exhibition

A Renaissance Royal Wedding: The Italian Princess & the Polish King showcases rare objects from Oxford collections connected to the Jagiellonians, one of the most important dynasties in Renaissance Europe. The exhibition marks the 500th anniversary of the wedding of Bona Sforza and King Sigismund I of Poland-Lithuania and explores the rich links this famous wedding created between Poland and southern Italy.

A Renaissance Royal Wedding (co-curated by Dr Natalia Nowakowska and Dr Katarzyna Kosior) will highlight the strong cultural-political connections which this match created between 16th-century Poland and southern Italy, and will stress the dynamic role which Queen Bona still plays in Polish national memory today.

This will be the first display in the UK focused on this major sixteenth-century European queen, and will feature fascinating artefacts such as her illuminated prayer book.

The exhibition is organised by the Jagiellonians project (led by Dr Natalia Nowakowska, pictured),  funded by the European Research Council. It will run at the Weston Library until 13 May 2018.

More information can be found here.


 

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