Renovated main portal of the Library on the Sand Island

The ceremonial opening of the renovated main portal of the Library on the Sand Island

On 14th November 2013 the ceremonial opening of the renovated main portal of the Library on Sand Island on Św. Jadwigi St. took place. Conservation and renovation works took place from May to the end of September 2013 and were conducted due to efforts of professor Rudolf Lenz from Marburg, and founded by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany and donated by German government plenipotentiary for culture and media - minister Neumann.

In the ceremony participated professor Rudolf Lenz - the originator and initiator of restoration works, Consul-General of Federal Republic of Germany in Wroclaw - Dr. Gottfried Zeitz, Voivod of Lower Silesia region - Aleksander Marek Skorupa with coworkers, the Rector of the University of Wroclaw Professor Dr Hab. Marek Bojarski and Vice-Rector for Research and International Relations - Professor Dr Hab. Adam Jezierski, plenipotentiary of Rector for monuments’ conservation - Dr. Łukasz Krzywka, Fr. Peter Wawrzynek from the parish of St. Mary on the Sand Island, representative of restoration project crew - art conservator Mr Jolanta Marosik, representatives of the Institute of Scientific Information and Librarianship and the Institute of German Philology, members of the Library Council, the director and employees of the Wroclaw University Library.

The guests were welcomed by Grazyna Piotrowicz - the director of the Wroclaw University Library. Act of ceremonial ribbon cutting was performed by the Rector of the University of Wroclaw - Professor Marek Bojarski, Professor Rudolf Lenz and Grazyna Piotrowicz. Father Piotr Wawrzynek from the parish of St. Mary on the Sand Island conducted dedication ceremony of the statue of Virgin Mary placed on the top of portal.

Coordinator of the conservation work, Professor Dr Dr H. C. Rudolf Lenz, reminded the audience portal’s history and highlighted architectural details of the monument. Baroque portal from 1717 was topped with statues of the Virgin Mary with a wreath of 12 stars and two putts, one of which held in hand crescent moon, and the second one - probably - the solar disc. After secularization of monastery in 1811 and changing its function – from monastery to the library, the portal was further decorated with the cartouche of the Prussian crown. At the end of the World War II building of the former University Library, along with the portal, was heavily damaged - statues and their pedestals suffered sever damages. The program of conservation works included: cleaning and adding stone, restoration of portal’s finial along with the reconstruction of missing parts and forms, their attributes as well as the coat of arms and crown of Prussia. Antique door was also restored. At the end of the speech Professor Rudolf Lenz thanked all of those who has participated in the work of renewing the portal, in particular - Anna Jezierska for help in historical and artistic matters, as well as for help with translations.

Director of the Wroclaw University Library - Grazyna Piotrowicz, on behalf of herself and the University’s authorities, give to Professor Rudolf Lenz heartfelt thanks for his personal commitment to the restoration of the portal. She also thanked all other persons and institutions that directly or indirectly collaborated on this project. Expressing gratitude to Professor for his personal efforts in the restoration of the historic form of the portal – she offered a humble gift to him: a copy of the three graphic by Werner, depicting the monastery building, along with the portal, in different periods of its history.

Voivod of Lower Silesia region - Aleksander Marek Skorupa - reminded guests that Professor Rudolf Lenz has done a lot for the restoration of monuments in the whole region o the Lower Silesia and that in July 2013 he was decorated with Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Polish Republic. This distinction is awarded for outstanding contributions to international cooperation and collaboration linking Polish Republic with other countries and nations.

The matter of Polish-German cooperation, that expresses itself in the actions of Professor Lenz for the protection of cultural monuments of the Silesia region, was also highlighted by Consul-General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Wroclaw - Dr. Gottfried Zeitz - in his speech.

Professor Adam Jegierski in his speech recalled the events of year 2007, when due to Professor Lenz the University of Wrocław received 50 thousand euro for repair works of the roof of the Library on the Sand Island, that was destroyed by the Cyryl hurricane.

The history of the building of the Wroclaw University Library, its collections as well as conservation and protective works on them were presented on a commemorative exhibition boards "Wroclaw University Library - Past and Present", that were prepared for the ceremony. In addition, on the exhibition, two boards illustrated history of the main portal and the process of its renovation. One of exhibition boards was dedicated to Professor Rudolf Lenz and presented his biography, scientific interests and his various initiatives on the conservation and safeguarding of cultural heritage of Silesia region and Wroclaw.

At the end of the ceremony invited guests drinking glasses of wine were discussing the future of the Library’s building at St. Hedwig 3/4 St. and the plans of moving the library collections to the new building on 12. Frederic Joliot-Curie St.