The Regional Museum in Toruń is hosting an exhibition ‘Mystery of the Sun. Copernicus a son of the Renaissance’. According to the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, prepared on the 550th anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus, the exhibition is very important for our heritage, but also for the present day. “This wonderful exhibition has been prepared in cooperation with many institutions. In paying tribute to Copernicus, I would also like to thank Polish museum professionals. What you are doing is extremely impressive. In Poland, the institutions of remembrance, the museums, stand at the highest level in the world. We have managed to increase support for these institutions, and the whole nation benefits from the effects of your excellent work, which is confirmed by the attendance in Polish museums”, said Minister Piotr Gliński.
The exhibition is part of an international anniversary exhibition and publishing project prepared in cooperation with Polish and foreign partners, including the Apostolic Library in the Vatican, the University Library in Uppsala, the Royal Castle in Warsaw, the Royal Castle of Wawel, the National Museum in Krakow, Warsaw, Poznań, Gdańsk, Wrocław, the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, many archives and libraries and diocesan and thematic museums.
The exhibition focuses on the early life of Nicolaus Copernicus, showing his travels to Italy, his period of study at the Universities of Bologna and Padua and the influence of Italian Renaissance culture on his later achievements. Through carefully selected works of Italian Renaissance art, it shows the spirit of the times in which the foundations of the heliocentric theory were forged.
The presentation consists of more than 200 sculptures, paintings, prints, objects of ceramics, handicrafts, and furniture. It features paintings, drawings and prints by artists such as Cima de Conegliano, Marco Basaiti, Benedetto Coda, Innocenzo Francucci da Imola, Andrea Mantegna, Giorgio Bonola, Carlo Urbino and Albrecht Dürer.
Arkadiusz Słomczyński