Malbork Castle

Teutonic Knights built Malbork Castle in the 13th century.  At that time Malbork was in Prussia, shifting in and out of Polish control, changing into Polish control in 1945.  It is the largest castle in the world by the land area it covers and when built the largest brick castle in the world. Sitting along the Nogat River, it has been a Polish royal palace, later to become a Nazi fortification in the waning days of the Third Reich, subjecting it to Russian bombardment.  Heavily damaged and afterwards faithfully restored, today you see a structure in fine condition and a great place to wander around, through narrow passages and steep winding staircases.

I’ve included some of the interesting artwork you find there.  The walls were beautifully painted, judging by the remains.  There are many interesting statutes and a few paintings.

 

There are 6 or 8 of these finely painted panels.

 

The castle also has a mill.  Here is a pen and ink of the mechanism:

Mill at Malbork Castle

 

Pen and ink drawings from Lublin

There’s an open air museum just outside Lublin containing houses, churches, barns and some bee hive structures unlike any I’ve ever seen before.  Here are some pen and ink drawings from that visit.  The setting is bucolic, with sloping meadows, wooden buildings on hilltops, a lake, a stream.  You have a good view into the  rural life style of area residents between 1800 and 1930.   Some drawings and a water color from the museum:

 

Church at the Open Air Museum, Lublin
Bee Hives at the Open Air Museum, Lublin
House at the Open Air Museum, Lublin

 

Field and Stream, water color, 20 cm x 20 cm, 8″ x *” on Arches

 

 

Thyssen Bornemisza Museum in Madrid- fabulous paintings

This first is a Toulouse-Lautrec, if you can believe it

 

Jean Baptiste Camile Corot, Diana Bathing
Jean Baptiste Camile Corot, Diana Bathing

 

Feininger, The White Man

Conrad felixmuter, Portrait of Young Scottish Girl

Campendonk, Young Couple

 

Kokoschka, Carl leo Schdmit

Van Dogen, Portrait of Woman With Cigarette

These next two are Sorollas from the Sorolla Museum

La Bata Rosa, Sorolla
La Bata Rosa, Sorolla

Trata de Blancas, detail, Sorolla
Trata de Blancas, detail, Sorolla

chat icon