Wrocław – National Museum in Wrocław (St. Mary Magdalene’s Church by Adelbert Woelfl)

This painting is in the collections of the National Museum in Wrocław and was painted by Adelbert Woelfl (1823-1896) in 1867. Woelfl was the best known artist of landscapes in Breslau, the German name for the city, and he was himself German having been born in Münsterberg (now known as Ziębice and part of Poland since 1945). It depicts St. Mary Magdalene’s Church which had been where the first Lutheran services had been held in the city in the early sixteenth century and it remained a Protestant church until the end of the Second World War, when it was restored to the Catholic tradition. I rather like the painting, it’s realistic and there’s a sense of reality about the individuals going about their business.

Here’s what the same view looks like now. The church was badly damaged during the Second World War and was substantially rebuilt, but they’ve been faithful (if you excuse the pun) to the original design, although the towers have been changed somewhat.

This is what fascinates me though, we have a German painter painting a German church in what was Germany. Everything is still there today, but everything has changed.