The interior of the Church of Peace in Świdnica was supposed to be bright, colourful and gleaming with gold. These were the intentions of its creators. However, the XIX and XX century modifications steeped it into a false illusion of darkness – says Ryszard Wójtowicz, the conservator.
His job is to remove the additional paint layer that still covers the original beauty of the Lutheran Church. By this we mean the renovation of the outer wall of the organ case, near the left lodge, which in 1902 was painted over with a thick layer of green oil paint. During the reconstruction of the organ case in the second half of the XVII century, the builders used wooden boards from different places of the Church. As a result, this somewhat “uncoherent mosaic” was eventually turned down by the auditing specialists at the beginning of the XX century. They then decided to cover it all with the green paint.
Moreover, the beautiful polychromies were covered with a thick layer of shellac, which quickly darkened – explains the conservator. Another mistake was to gild almost every gilding in the church using gilt bronze and shellac, so as to create a gaudy gilded look. This, along with the dirt, gave the effect of an artificial patina.
Ryszard Wójtowicz emphasises that the currently used techniques to remove the additional paint layers can be carried out with no damage to the original paint.
