The Bolesławiec lapidarium was established shortly after the opening of the Municipal Museum in Bolesławiec in 1911. It housed sculptures and fragments of sculptures, architectural details, gravestones and epitaph plaques. Not all of the artefacts collected at that time survived the turmoil of war. After the Second World War, the collection grew by several objects, most of them gravestones from old Bolesławiec cemeteries.
The lapidarium contains, among other objects, Baroque figures of St John of Nepomuk and St Eligius of Noyon, two matzevot from the Bolesławiec Jewish cemetery, as well as remains of old epitaphs from the Evangelical cemetery in Bolesławiec, including those of the Bolesławiec potter Johann Gottlieb Joppe, the author of the famous Great Pot, and his wife Anna née Scholzin; a 15th-century penitential cross brought from Kruszyn; and remains of a portal from the palace in Kraszowice.
Thanks to external funding obtained by the Museum of Ceramics from the European Union, eight sculptures from the lapidarium will undergo comprehensive conservation work. The work, which began in June, will continue until September, when the restored figures will be placed again in the museum park on new stone pedestals.
The conservation of the objects is possible thanks to the implementation of the “Remembering Forgotten Monuments of History” project, carried out in cooperation with the Czech partner—the Municipal Office of Hrádek nad Nisou. The project, whose aim is to revitalise movable heritage objects and restore their function as active cultural and tourist attractions, received funding from the European Regional Development Fund במסגרת the Microprojects Fund of the cross-border programme “INTERREG VA Czech Republic-Poland 2014–2020”.
