Gisleni. A Roman Architect in Poland

Gisleni. A Roman Architect in Poland

September 11 – December 13, 2026

He arrived in Poland as a musician and went on to make his mark on its history as an architect to the kings. For over three decades, Giovanni Battista Gisleni shaped the visual splendor of the Vasa court, designing both royal residences and their exquisite interiors. Nearly thirty of his drawings, brought from Milan, are presented in the first such comprehensive exhibition of the artist’s work in Poland.

From Music to Architecture

Born in Rome in 1600, Giovanni Battista Gisleni arrived in Poland thirty years later and entered the service of King Sigismund III Vasa as a musician playing the theorbo - a bass member of the lute family. His architectural talent was soon recognized, however. At the height of his career, he designed and modernized some of the capital’s most important buildings, including royal residences and monumental churches. He was also responsible for the visual settings of court ceremonies - weddings, coronations, and funerals.

Rome on the Vistula

Gisleni was strongly influenced by the architecture of his native Rome, to which he returned several times during his years in Poland. He was well versed in classical works on architectural theory, including the treatises of Vitruvius, Palladio, and Serlio, while also closely following the latest trends. In Gisleni’s designs, mathematical precision is combined with a free, confident hand, while Christian symbolism is interwoven with classical motifs.

What You’ll See

The exhibition features nearly thirty large-format drawings from the Castello Sforzesco collection in Milan. You will see designs for churches and residences in Warsaw, royal interiors, altars, and tombs, as well as remarkable funerary decorations filled with skeletons, urns, hourglasses, and classical motifs. The works on display also include a design for a royal bedroom featuring figures of Venus and Mars, as well as a plan for the architect’s own house in Rome - complete with a small garden and a chicken run.