Spanish Royal opening for Madrid Polish exhibition
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
02.06.2011 11:55
King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia were joined last night by the Polish presidential couple Bronislaw Komorowski and First Lady Anna Komorowska for the opening of a major exhibition of Polish art treasures at the Palacio Real in Madrid.
Queen Sofia, First Lady Anna, King Juan Carlos and President Komorowski; photo - EPA
Entitled ‘The Golden Age of the Polish Republic’, the exhibition gives a cross-section of Polish arts and crafts as well as of Polish art collections from the 14th century to the loss of independence at the end of the 18th century.
The Spanish monarch and President Komorowski are the honorary patrons of the exhibition.
The event is part of the promotion of Poland’s presidency in the European Union which begins on 1 July. Talking to journalists after the opening ceremony, President Komorowski stressed the symbolic importance of the exhibition for bringing Polish art and history closer to the Spanish public.
The main crowd-pulling attraction of the exhibition is Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece Lady with an Ermine from the Czartoryski collection in Krakow, one of the artist’s four extant female portraits.
On display are about 200 works of art which testify to the manifold links of Polish art with European trends and the influences of the art of the Orient.
The exhibition is on show till 4 September. (mk)