Ecstasies. Bernini at Wawel

The third Wawel exhibition about emotion in early sculpture changes era: after the Rococo figures from Lviv comes Bernini’s Baroque Rome. At its centre is Bernini’s most famous group, Saint Teresa in a moment of mystical rapture, shown through a sketch model, drawings and the design for the altar. Wawel Royal Castle will open it on 6 November 2026 and close it on 6 January 2027.

Wawel Royal Castle on the exhibition (our translation of the castle’s Polish programme text; the castle’s own, shorter English text is on its What to see page ):

“Ecstasies. Bernini at Wawel” continues two exhibitions presenting masterpieces of early modern sculpture - “Expression” (2023) and “Emotions” (2024). This time the objects on display centre on the notion of ecstasy, showing human emotional states - from the inner experience of emotion, through its outward manifestation, to extreme rapture. A special place in the exhibition will go to artefacts connected with Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s “Ecstasy of Saint Teresa of Ávila”, among them the bozzetto of the “Face of Saint Teresa of Ávila”, drawings and the design for the altar in the Cornaro Chapel. The ecstasy of other saints will be shown through works connected with, among others, Saint Anastasia, Maria Raggi and Saint Francis Xavier.

What to expect

The castle has not yet published a page of its own for this exhibition, so everything known comes from its autumn programme and its “What to see” page. Do not expect the marble group from Rome: the castle does not announce it. What you will see instead is what comes before a sculpture in stone - the artist’s workshop.

A bozzetto is a small, quickly modelled sketch for a sculpture, usually in clay or terracotta. The sculptor used it to test composition and expression before starting work in marble. Alongside the sketch of Teresa’s face, the castle announces drawings and the design for the altar of the chapel where the group still stands today.

What the castle has not yet given: the number of objects, the rooms, the curators’ names or who is lending the works. Nor does it say whether all the works it names are by Bernini himself or by his workshop and circle.

Context

Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) was born in Naples and worked almost all his life in Rome for a succession of popes. As an architect he designed the bronze baldacchino over the tomb of Saint Peter and the colonnade of the square in front of the basilica. As a sculptor he made, among other works, “Apollo and Daphne” and the Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona.

He made the “Ecstasy of Saint Teresa” in 1647-1652 for Cardinal Federico Cornaro, who chose the chapel in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria as his burial place. The white marble group shows the Spanish mystic at the moment of her vision, with an angel holding a spear standing over her. From boxes on either side of the chapel, carved members of the patron’s family watch the scene.

Bernini made the memorial to Maria Raggi, a nun from the island of Chios who lived in Rome from 1584 and died in 1600, in 1647-1653, in marble and gilt bronze. It hangs on a pillar of the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.

The two earlier exhibitions in the series, prepared together with the Lviv National Art Gallery, showed Rococo figures by Johann Georg Pinsel: in 2023 from the church in Hodovytsia, in 2024 from Horodenka. At the press conference before the second of them opened, the castle’s director Andrzej Betlej said, according to PAP : “there were Expressions, now there are Emotions, who knows what comes next”.

Tickets and time

• November: free entry. Under “Free November” (Darmowy Listopad), Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00-17:00 (9 AM-5 PM), the free pass to the castle’s second floor also covers this exhibition from 6 November. Last entry is at 16:00. Passes are issued at the ticket offices on the day of the visit, from 8:45 to 16:00, and online one week in advance. One person can collect passes for at most five people, and the number is limited.
• Audio guide: the castle states that the free November audio guides do not cover this exhibition. It does not say whether a paid audio guide will be available for it.
• Mondays and public holidays in November: the free Monday programme covers the castle’s first floor, Wawel Recovered and Between the Walls (Międzymurze), and does not list this exhibition. On 1 November the castle is closed. On 11 November the castle opens only the second floor and the Armoury and closes the other exhibitions; passes are then issued online only. Whether the second-floor pass also covers this exhibition on that day, the castle does not specify.
• December and 2-6 January: the castle has not yet published prices for the exhibition for this period, and its “What to see” page does not list it among the paid temporary exhibitions. Before you go, check the “What to see” page .
• Opening date: the castle’s press release of 24 September gave 5 November. The autumn programme and the “What to see” page both give 6 November, and from that day you can visit the exhibition.
• Three exhibitions on one pass: the same November pass covers “Anna Jagiellon. All the Faces of the Queen” and, from 27 November, also the showing of Vermeer’s “Woman with a Pearl Necklace” from the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. It is worth coming on 27, 28 or 29 November, Friday to Sunday: you will then see all three free of charge.
• How long: the castle does not give the number of objects. Allow a cautious 30-45 minutes for this exhibition alone, and about two and a half hours for the whole second floor together with “Anna Jagiellon” and Bernini.
• Best for: anyone interested in Baroque sculpture and in how it was made, and anyone who has seen the Cornaro Chapel in Rome and wants to see how it was designed.
• Skip if: you are visiting Wawel for the first time and have only an hour. In that case choose the royal chambers alone and come back for Bernini’s sketches another time.
• In English: the English version of the castle’s “What to see” page has a short description of the exhibition, without the sentence on other saints. The castle does not say, however, whether the labels in the exhibition will be bilingual.

See also

• Anna Jagiellon. All the Faces of the Queen - at Wawel until 14 February 2027. In November the same free pass covers it, so you can see both exhibitions in one visit.
• Lares and Penates. On Building a Sense of Security in Architecture - another of the castle’s temporary exhibitions, open until 6 January 2027, exactly as long as “Ecstasies”. In November it is not free: entry is with the paid “Castle First Floor” ticket.
• Vincent van Gogh: Country Cottages Among the Trees - in the Main Building of the National Museum in Krakow until 31 December 2026. The only van Gogh in a Polish public collection, a good addition for anyone coming to Wawel for the Vermeer.

Tickets, opening hours and current details are on the “What to see” page of Wawel Royal Castle .

Museum profile: Wawel Royal Castle .