Scorched countryside, demolished towns, burnt-out castles. Hosts of knights at Chmielnik and Lignica crushed - the vines cut. - A veritable graveyard on the whole of this land. The remnants of a society previously weakened by dilemmas and bloody battles, now terrified and demoralised, could find relief only in the stigmata on Christ’s feet.

The bodies of the most important fallen knights, collected from the fields of Lignica, were taken to the Fortress of Breslau in order to draw new strength from the sacrifices and not to doubt everything.

In the chancel, before the main altar, a funeral Mass; St. Jacek raises the host, the bell strikes sadly but loudly, Blessed Czesław the monk, folds his hands in contrition.

St. Jadwiga, the mother of Henryk, lies cross-legged on the bedstead. The princely widow Jadwiga, surrounded by her children, collects her mad thoughts.

... descending the stone steps is a peasant carrying a shield adorned with a crown, this is the great-Polish Przemysław, the restorer of royal dignity.

The pains and calamities endured revived the nation, poured into it new strength that it had lacked.

Task: Jan Matejko
Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
https://mnk.pl/exhibitions/matejko-the-painter-and-history