The project of adapting the Collegiate Church of the Holy Cross in Wrocław into a sacral art museum and a mausoleum of Silesian Piasts. An expression of concern for the historic building or a propaganda operation?

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to discuss a quite unknown project of adapting the Collegiate Church of the Holy Cross in Wrocław into a museum. This initiative was undertaken in 1955–1956 on orders of Father Kazimierz Lagosz, who was then the vicar capitular of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wrocław. The text outlines the preparatory studies, problems related to realisation of that project and the presumable role of the museum in the context of the communist propaganda of the time concerning the “Western Territories”. The paper is also an attempt to answer the question asked in the title – about the motivations Father Lagosz had when he proposed to desacralise one of the most important churches in Wrocław.