The Royal Casket (Polish: Szkatuła Królewska) was a memorial created in 1800 by Izabela Czartoryska. The large wooden casket contained 73 precious relics[1] that had once belonged to Polish royalty. The casket was inscribed: "Polish mementos assembled in 1800 by Izabela Czartoryska". It once reposed in the Temple of the Sibyl at Puławy.[2]
Contents
Cross on Anna Jagiellon's chain (see the King/Queen's portrait by Marcin Kober) {below}Anna Jagiellon portrait by Marcin Kober
The casket survived all the confiscations after the collapses of the Polish national uprisings, because it had been moved to Kraków.
When World War II broke out, it was transported together with the rich collection of the Czartoryski Museum to Sieniawa and hidden in a repository, in a palace outbuilding, which was later bricked up. However, the German owner of a mill who worked for the Czartoryski family betrayed the hiding place to Wehrmacht soldiers, who entered Sieniawa on 14 September 1939.[1] The soldiers broke into the palace and plundered the collection. They robbed the Royal Casket and distributed its contents among themselves.[2]
^ abLetkiewicz, Ewa (2002). "Krzyż pektoralny z grobu Zygmunta Augusta" [The pectoral cross from the grave of Zygmunt August]. Roczniki Humanistyczne (in Polish). 50 (4): 191–6. ISSN0035-7707. INIST15225035.
