Sigismund's Chapel

File:Church of St. Stanislaus and St. Wenceslaus, Sigismund chapel, Wawel 1, Old Town, Kraków, Poland.jpg

Sigismund's Chapel (1519–1533)

File:Church of St. Stanislaus and St. Wenceslaus, Sigismund's Chapel (R) and Vasa Chapel (L), Wawel 1, Old Town, Kraków, Poland.jpg

Sigismund's Chapel (right) and the later-period Vasa Chapel (left)

Sigismund's Chapel (Polish: kaplica Zygmuntowska) is a royal chapel of the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, Poland. Built as a funerary chapel for the last members of the Jagiellonian Dynasty, it has been hailed by many art historians as "the most beautiful example of the Tuscan Renaissance north of the Alps". Financed by King Sigismund I the Old, it was built in 1519–33 by Italian architect Bartolomeo Berrecci.

A square-based chapel with a golden dome houses the tombs of its founder King Sigismund, as well as King Sigismund II Augustus and Anna Jagiellon. The inner sculptures, stuccos and paintings were designed by some of the most renowned artists of the age, including the architect Berrecci himself, Georg Pencz, Santi Gucci and Hermann Vischer.

Gallery

• An elaborate and gilded tombstone of Queen Anna Jagiellon
  An elaborate and gilded tombstone of Queen Anna Jagiellon
• Coffered dome of the chapel photographed in 1951
  Coffered dome of the chapel photographed in 1951
• Window decoration and a spire sit atop the dome
  Window decoration and a spire sit atop the dome
• Polish white eagle with Sigismund I the Old's monogram "S"
  Polish white eagle with Sigismund I the Old's monogram "S"
• Tomb monument of Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II Augustus in the Chapel
  Tomb monument of Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II Augustus in the Chapel

See also

• Renaissance architecture
• Renaissance in Poland
• Jagiellon dynasty
• History of early modern period domes