Artus Court

Artus Court. The most famous of the Polish tenement buildings, bearing the name of the legendary Arthur. For many years it was considered one of the finest of its kind in northern Europe. So what were these 'Arthur Mansions', which were created in such large numbers throughout Europe, especially in Hanseatic cities? We might call them prestigious "temples of power and money", because they were used as a meeting place for the then elite: wealthy nobility, merchants and craftsmen. Here of course it was modelled on the knights of the Round Table of King Arthur. The Gdańsk Artus Court was an important centre for the city's social and commercial life and enjoyed a reputation as the most democratic place in the country. The most prominent people of their time visited, from castellans and governors to heirs to the throne. Artus Court in Gdańsk was built in the fourteenth century, but today we admire the shape of the property, which resulted in 1477 after a fire struck the building. The façade, consisting of Mannerist portal medallions adorned with portraits of kings, was rebuilt by Abraham van den Blocke. It has an interior representative of the drawing rooms of the most important families, and particularly worth seeing is the impressive, huge 12-metre high tiled stove. This George Stelzenera work is from the mid-sixteenth century. The furnace is decorated with tiles, painted by the master Jost, representing portraits of eminent European rulers, emblems and personifications of virtues and planets. Today, Artus Court is part of the Gdańsk History Museum.