A Renaissance royal wedding exhibition
A Renaissance Royal Wedding
2018 marks the 500th anniversary of the wedding of the Milanese-Neapolitan princess Bona Sforza and King Sigismund I of Poland. It was one of the most celebrated and internationally significant weddings seen in Renaissance Central Europe. The ERC-funded Jagiellonians project, directed by Dr Natalia Nowakowska, is supporting a programme of events to explore new thinking around this key union, its influence and its remembrance.
From 17 March 2018 — 13 May 2018, a small display in the Blackwell Hall, Weston Library, will showcase the Bodleian's rich holdings relating to the royal couple, Bona Sforza and King Sigismund I of Poland .
A Renaissance Royal Wedding (co-curated by Dr Natalia Nowakowska and Dr Katarzyna Kosior) will highlight the strong cultural-political connections which this match created between 16th-century Poland and southern Italy, and will stress the dynamic role which Queen Bona still plays in Polish national memory today.
This will be the first display in the UK focused on this major sixteenth-century European queen, and will feature fascinating artefacts such as her illuminated prayer book.
A Renaissance Royal Wedding will run at the Blackwell Hall, Weston Library, Oxford OX1 3BG, from 17th March - 13th May 2018, admission free.
For more information, visit the Bodleian Library website here.
