Hana Vorlová

Die Grassersche Plastik in den Sammlungen von Burg Bouzov

Between 1895 and 1909 the Archduke Eugene Habsburg (1863-1954), grand master of the Teutonic Knights, had Castle Bouzov - his chosen stately residence (now under the administration of the National Heritage Institute's regional office in Olomouc) - renovated and reconstructed in a Neo-gothic style. A passionate art collector and expert, he had a large collection of mostly mediaeval paintings, sculptures, and craftwork installed so that the castle would resemble as much as possible a traditional Gothic knightly residence. It was for that reason also that he had the originals of the tombstones of six Teutonic masters moved from the former seat of the Order in Horneck to Bouzov and had them built into its newly constructed chapel. Except for these tombstones and the paintings, few researchers have devoted much attention to the collections at Bouzov because they are works that were imported at the turn of the 20th century mainly from German regions and from the Netherlands. One of the many accessories intended to evoke a 'mediaeval' atmosphere at the castle was (and still is) the very inconspicuous bas-relief of an ascetically thin saint holding a book in his hand and with a tiara on his head, located on the stair head in the stairway hall. A search of the Bavarian capital turned up the site where the relief of the Pope originated - from the choir benches (only fragments of which have survived to date) of the parish and collegiate Frauenkirche in Munich. It is the work of the most important late Gothic sculptor from Munich, Erasmus Grasser (circa 1450-1518) and his workshop, and he completed the work in 1502. In the castle chapel at Bouzov another formally similar work is found - a baldachin with two saint figures, which was probably from the same source.

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