Magnificent works of art from a private collection – portraits, engravings, and objects that once belonged to a royal couple. Among them, one stands out – the prayer book of Mary, Queen of Scots, featuring a inscription written in her own hand - an an object preserved by M.Sc. Anna Kowalewska, a doctoral student at Academia Copernicana Interdisciplinary Doctoral School.

On October 25, 2025, a new temporary exhibition will open at the Museum of King Jan III's Palace at Wilanów in Warsaw “The Sobieskis and Stuarts – the Splendour and Spectre of the Crown,” which is the first exhibition in Poland to tell the story of a common thread in the modern history of distant countries: the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and England, Scotland, and Ireland.

Magnificent works of art from a private collection – portraits, engravings, and objects that once belonged to the royal couple. Among them will also be the prayer book of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, with an inscription written in her own hand – an object preserved by M.Sc. Anna Kowalewska, a doctoral student at Academia Copernicana Interdisciplinary Doctoral School, and the subject of her doctoral project entitled: “Micro Computed Tomography 3D-imaging as a tool for non-invasive assessment of historical bookbindings structure. Basis for the restoration of the prayer book of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots as an exemplary case study.”

The temporary exhibition will be open from October 25, 2025 – May 31, 2026.

Exhibition curators:

Dr. Marta Gołąbek, Alicja Łoboda, Agnieszka Pawlak, Michał Witkowski

More information on the exhibition can be found here.

Additionally, on October 25, Ms Anna Kowalewska will be giving a lecture in Wilanów on the conservation of a prayer book entitled “Spying On Bookbinding Masters. Micro CT use in the conservation of the prayer book of Mary Stuart.” The lecture will be part of a scientific symposium accompanying the opening of the exhibition.