Royal Castle in Warsaw - Former Chamber of Deputies and adjacent rooms

The former Chamber of Deputies is located in the ground floor of the Grand House (Curia Maior), the residence of Prince Janusz I the Elder, built at the beginning of the 15th century. Before 1526, it served as a representative hall (pallacium); Princely courts were held here and the Masovian Sejm met.

Royal Castle in Warsaw - Former Chamber of Deputies and adjacent rooms, photo: Royal Castle in Warsaw

The Union of Lublin in 1569 designated Warsaw as the permanent seat of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland. The Great House was transformed into a parliamentary building. The new parliamentary hall has Renaissance vaults on three pillars (architect Giovanni Battista Quadro). Above it the senate and the "combined estates" gathered under the leadership of the king. Its early Baroque decoration was achieved during the expansion of the Castle by Sigismund III (the first years of the 17th century). The Sejm met every two years for six-week sessions. About 170 members of parliament under the leadership of the elected marshal participated in them. The MPs sat on benches arranged in a horseshoe shape, creating a symbolic "deliberation circle".

Between sessions, both parliamentary chambers were used for court ceremonies. After the chamber of deputies was moved to another interior, around 1670 the hall was divided into service rooms. This is how it survived until the 20th century. Its historical architecture was discovered in the 1920s by curator Kazimierz Skórewicz. The destruction of the Castle in 1944 survived the cellars under the hall. After 1971, the interior was reconstructed on their foundation, enriched with frescoes with the coats of arms of the voivodeships and lands of the Republic of Poland, referring to the original decoration; the stoves were also reconstructed based on 17th century tiles found in the Castle.

Prepared by: Marek Wrede

source - Royal Castle in Warsaw