Szymon Bogumił Zug
1784
National Museum in Lublin
Part of the collection: Polish medallic art from the 16th to the 17th c.
Among the rights granted in 1768 to dissenters by the Sejm of the Republic of Poland was permission to erect religious buildings. On this basis, King Stanislaw August Poniatowski (1764-1795) issued on 15 January 1777 the privilege to build a temple for the Evangelical-Augsburg community in Warsaw. From among three proposed designs for the building, the monarch chose the classicist concept prepared by Szymon Bogumił Zug (1733-1807), inspired by the Roman Pantheon and the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Dresden.
The commencement of construction on 24 April 1777 is commemorated by a medal funded by the Evangelical community in Warsaw. The obverse depicts the sacred building surrounded by a Latin inscription, translating: ‘Hear everyone who prays in this place’ and with a horizontal inscription placed below: ‘On 24 April in the year of our Lord 1777, the 13th year of the reign of King Stanislaus Augustus’. Its reverse side is filled with a nine-line Latin inscription, translating to: ‘This temple dedicated to the Triune God Most High was erected by the Warsaw Assembly of Augsburg Confession with the permission of King Stanislaus August and the Republic of Poland’. It is worth knowing that the original, unrealised design of the building was reproduced on this medal. Already while minting the medal, Szymon Bogumił Zug introduced corrections in the architectural plan of the church. It concerned mainly the dome of the temple, to which a superstructure with glass columns was added. The solution admitted more light into the interior. Meanwhile, damage to the stamp made it necessary to produce a new obverse die, on which the modernisation of the plan of the building was taken into account. It is believed that fewer medals depicting the original architectural layout were struck. It is known that not only the Polish king received a gold copy of this work, but also, among others, the Empress Catherine II of Russia (1762-1796) and King Frederick II of Prussia (1740-1786), who were the guarantors of the rights granted to dissenters.
The author of the work is Jan Filip Holzhaeusser, court medal-maker of Stanisław August Poniatowski, whose signature can be found on the obverse next to that of Szymon Bogumił Zug.
The copy is most probably from the 19th century, made in the casting technique. Its diameter of 52.1 mm is less than 1 mm smaller than the original.
Tomasz Markiewicz
Author / creator
Dimensions
cały obiekt: width: 52,1 mm
Object type
medal
Technique
silver-coating
Material
bronze
Creation time / dating
Creation / finding place
Owner
The National Museum in Lublin
Identification number
Location / status
Holzhaeusser, Jan Filip
1784
National Museum in Lublin
Holzhaeusser, Jan Filip
1772
National Museum in Lublin
Regulski, Jan
1792
National Museum in Lublin
DISCOVER this TOPIC
Museum of King Jan III's Palace at Wilanów
DISCOVER this PATH
Educational path
0/500
We use cookies to make it easier for you to use our website and for statistical purposes. You can manage cookies by changing the settings of your web browser. More information in the Privacy Policy.
We use cookies to make it easier for you to use our website and for statistical purposes. You can manage cookies by changing the settings of your web browser. More information in the Privacy Policy.
Manage cookies:
This type of cookies is necessary for the website to function. You can change your browser settings to block them, but then the website will not work properly.
WYMAGANE
They are used to measure user engagement and generate statistics about the website to better understand how it is used. If you block this type of cookies, we will not be able to collect information about the use of the website and we will not be able to monitor its performance.