Objects from the BUW collections at the exhibition in the Capitoline Museums in Rome
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A print with the image of Jan III Sobieski created after 1686 and 4 pages of a print from 1686 – a programme with the libretto of a play prepared as a tribute to the King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth are presented at the exhibition Polska Królowa na Kapitol: Maria Kazimiera and the Sobieski Royal Family in Rome. The exhibition has been organised by the Capitoline Service for the Supervision of Cultural Heritage (Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali) as part of a new series Capitol at the Crossroads of Cultures dedicated to the figures, peoples and international events associated with the Roman Capitol.
Queen Maria Kazimiera (1641-1716) travelled to Rome after the death of her husband, King Jan III Sobieski, to avoid becoming embroiled in the struggle for the succession to the Polish throne. The presence of the Polish royal family in the Eternal City aroused great interest because of its links to events of momentous historical significance, but also because of the queen’s involvement in the cultural life of the city. Maria Kazimiera was admitted as a member of the Arcadian Academy, which was established in the Roman literary and scholarly community and was a precursor of Neoclassicism. During her 15-year stay in Rome, the Queen was a patron of esteemed musical and operatic events at her court in the Palazzetto Zuccari and played an important role in the development of Rome’s artistic community at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries.
The exhibition at the Capitoline Museums is dedicated to the relationship of the Polish Queen and the royal Sobieski family with the city. It features artefacts and documents from the collections of the Capitoline Service for the Supervision of Cultural Heritage and objects on loan from religious institutions, libraries and private individuals from Rome, Grottaferrata and Florence, as well as Warsaw.
BUW lent 2 objects for the exhibition: a copperplate with an image of Jan III Sobieski, dated after 1686, by Charles de la Haye (1641-after 1707), after Jerzy Eleuter Szymonowicz Siemiginowski (1660-1711), and a fragment of a theatre performance programme printed on handmade paper Constantinus Magnus, clypeus militantis, corona triumphantis Ecclesiae sancta cruce pro gladio armatus ….. Joannis III …regis Poloniae … in scena protectus….Varsaviae 1686: intertitolo del programma teatrale, Schol. Piarum.
Visitors to the exhibition can also see an equestrian portrait of John III Sobieski on loan from the Royal Castle in Warsaw.
The exhibition, organised on the initiative of the Department of Culture of the City of Rome and the Capitoline Service for the Supervision of Cultural Heritage, was prepared in collaboration with the Faculty of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw, which was, among other things, co-responsible for developing the curatorial concept of the exhibition and publishing its catalogue.
The exhibition is held under the patronage of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland, the Polish Institute in Rome and the Polish Academy of Sciences in Rome.
The University of Warsaw Library is a partner of the event, alongside the National Institute of Polish Cultural Heritage Abroad “Polonica” and the King John III Palace Museum in Wilanow.
The installation of artefacts from BUW’s collections at the Capitoline Museums exhibition was supervised by Agata Ciecierska-Kadlof from the Protection and Conservation Department of the BUW.
The official opening of the exhibition Polish Queen on Capitol Hill: Maria Kazimiera and the Sobieski Royal Family in Rome took place on June, 10.
The exhibition can be viewed until 21 September 2025 at the Capitoline Museums in Palazzo Caffarelli, in the rooms on the third floor.
More information www.museicapitolini.org .
Published: 17 June 2025