Artus Court

The Artus Court Danzig (Polish: Dwór Artusa ) is an after severe war damage reconstructed landmark Danzig at Long Market. The Artus Court in Gdansk was the seat of the Gdansk Stock Exchange.

It was created as a result of the transformation of the city after the award of the Kulm instead of Liibeck law 1342. Artus Court was assigned to the new market a parcel of land at Long so that already in 1350 the " curia regis Artusi " was mentioned in writing. The building served as a meeting place of rich merchants and nobles who joined in seven local brotherhoods. To date, a beer bar reminiscent of the beer at that time. A stone building was erected in 1380, which, however, already burned down in 1476. 1478 a new and larger Artus Court in the Late Gothic style was started, which was opened in 1481. From this conversion, the northern façade remains.

The magnificent facade of the Arthurian court on Long Market underwent a renovation in 1552 in Renaissance style, and again from 1616 to 1617 by the architect Abraham van den Block a Mannerist transformation. On the new front, the three Gothic windows were preserved, but the building was an attic and a new portal. There were attached to the windows sculptures of Scipio Africanus, Themistocles, Marcus Furius Camillus, and Judas Maccabaeus, which symbolize the virtues of citizenship. Allegorical statues of justice, courage and happiness adorn the niches of the attic, or the gable.

The 350 m² hall of the Arthurian court with its Gothic stellar vault is supported by four granite pillars. Famous is the lush interior of the Artus Court, as some paintings from the Renaissance a late Gothic wooden sculpture of Saint George and in particular a twelve meter high Renaissance tiled stove from 1545-1546 with 268 colored ornate tiles. Also, the oven could be swapped before the conquest of the city by the Red Army in March 1945 and thus escaped destruction. Also worth seeing is the Last Judgement, 1603 by Anton Möller ( 1563-1611, in the history of art received as " the painter of Danzig" ). This large-format oil painting was destroyed in 1945 by fire. Since 2000, a reconstruction will be issued in the same place that produced the Polish artist Krzysztof Izdebski based on archive photographs.

A literary monument ETA Hoffmann has the building in his story " The Artus Court " set.