{"id":17444,"date":"2017-12-31T13:24:39","date_gmt":"2017-12-31T12:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.amber.com.pl\/bursztynowy-oltarz-jest-ukonczony-w-polowie-rozmowa-z-mariuszem-drapikowskim\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T18:46:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T17:46:02","slug":"the-amber-altar-is-half-finished-interview-with-mariusz-drapikowski","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/aktualnosci\/bursztynowy-oltarz-jest-ukonczony-w-polowie-rozmowa-z-mariuszem-drapikowskim\/","title":{"rendered":"The Amber Altar is half finished - an interview with Mariusz Drapikowski"},"content":{"rendered":"

Media reports about the Amber Altarpiece were exaggerated from the very beginning of its creation. Mariusz Drapikowski, co-creator of the Altarpiece and creator of many significant amber works of sacred themes, straightens out: the project is only half completed.
<\/strong>
Is the Amber Altar your longest-running amber project?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

By me, yes, but generally no. When talking about the Amber Altar, we very often refer to another architectural realisation considered to be the greatest to date, namely the Amber Chamber, which took 60 years to build. If we had had adequate resources at the beginning, that is, first of all, sufficient quantities of raw amber, the Altarpiece would have been realised in 5-6 years. Meanwhile, the Altar has been under construction for 17 years: for the last two years the project has been carried out under the supervision of Professor Radwa\u0144ski and in consultation with Archbishop S\u0142awoj Leszek G\u0142\u00f3d\u017a; the earlier work was carried out under my supervision. <\/p>\n

When the decision was made to build the Altar, amber was extremely cheap. This time was unfortunately not taken advantage of.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

This was not the case. The timing was indeed good, as the low prices of the raw material encouraged generosity in its donation. The amber workers had high hopes that this investment and the huge commitment of the prelate Henryk Jankowski, the parish priest of St Brygida, would lead to the start of amber mining in Pomerania. At the time, the media reported that the prelate wanted to extract amber because he was applying for a concession. The truth is that the prelate was supporting efforts to obtain a mining concession for a company that dredged the seabed, as the raw material extracted in this way would reach the market. The amber workers, in turn, declared that if the raw material could be easily purchased on the market, they would be happy to donate some part of it for the construction of the altar. Either way, the amber community deserves a big bow - if it were not for their generosity, the Virgin's robe would not have been so impressive. <\/p>\n

It was rumoured that 10 tonnes of amber were to be used to realise the Amber Altar - at least in this original version. How much was needed for this currently realised concept?
<\/strong>
I have the impression that some people are deliberately giving inflated figures in order to arouse more interest and perhaps even sensationalism. Our original assumption was that we would need about 5-6 tonnes of raw material for the project on the altarpiece alone, of which about 1\/3 would actually be used and about 2\/3 would be waste. I would prefer not to focus on the weight of the amber used, as this only unnecessarily arouses curiosity and leads to price conversions. Instead of focusing on the generosity of the donors, i.e. how much the altar cost, it is better to think how the altar will affect the promotion of Gdansk in the world. Gda\u0144sk, which is the World Capital of Amber, and the Altarpiece will be, when completed, the largest architectural work made in amber: with a height of 13 metres and 120 m2<\/sup> area will be half the size and three times the height of the Amber Chamber. <\/p>\n

I'm a bit grossed out by this megalomania....<\/strong> <\/p>\n

The thing about the Amber Altar is not that it has to be the biggest and and the most amber was used to build it. The Amber Chamber was built for the glory of the monarch, to show his power and strength, and the Altar is built for the glory of God. We are on the eve of the 100th anniversary of regaining independence - this altar is a gift of the Polish people in thanksgiving for regaining freedom, for the intercession of the Mother of God. It was created out of the heart's need of many people - and this is the most important thing. Not numbers.

How has the project evolved over time?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

The first significant element in the realisation of the altar and the inspiration for the decision to build it was the Millennium Monstrance, consecrated in 2000, whose characteristic feature is an almost 1.5-kilogram lump of transparent amber with the possibility of placing a host. In turn, the first action taken at the Amber Altar was the creation of an amber dress for the icon of Our Lady of the World of Work - an icon that was displayed on the walls of the shipyard during the 1980 strike. It hung - as did, in the following years, the soaring eagle, the figures of St. Mary Magdalene and St. John the Baptist. It hangs - as do the figures of St Bridget of Sweden and St Elisabeth Hesselblad made in the following years, and the amber vine - on an unusual self-supporting structure made of stainless steel pipes, which gives the impression that the altar floats above the chancel floor.
Together with Professor Stanis\u0142aw Radwa\u0144ski, the former rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gda\u0144sk, whom I invited to cooperate in the realisation of the Amber Altarpiece, we were aware that it would be created over many years, so we were very keen that it should look finished at every stage of its realisation. But also that it would provoke a desire to fill this space with amber. Therefore, in the next stage of the project, we want to focus on filling these small spaces of the structure between the tubes: we plan to place cut blocks of amber there, so that the altar, when illuminated from behind, creates the impression of being filled with amber. In the near future, we are also planning to place amber cornucopias in the lower part of the altar, which is the symbol of the Eucharistic bread. <\/p>\n

Media reports indicated that the altar had just been completed and consecrated....
<\/strong>
No, it has not been completed. We are only somewhere in the middle of the journey. You can see that this concept of ours, to make the altar appear finished at every stage of construction, has worked. In the years to come, the altar will grow and be filled with amber. <\/p>\n

So it may be that it will be built longer than the Amber Room after all. <\/strong><\/p>\n

This cannot be predicted. The altar will be built as quickly as human generosity allows. We do not have funding - it is not the church that funds this altar, it is the public that builds it as a votive offering of gratitude for prayers heard and graces given. I would like to emphasise: The church does not buy the amber, it is the people who donate it. <\/p>\n

I am just wondering whether in 100-200 years' time <\/strong>you will be as famous as the creators of the Amber Room: Gottfried Wolfram, Gottfried Turau and Ernest Schacht<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The construction of a sacred space is not about showcasing the creator, but rather his or her work created for the glory of God, and the intentions that the creator had in mind. For the Christian, God is beautiful, so everything created for him should be the most beautiful. For us, Gda\u0144skers, it is amber that is the most beautiful thing we want and can offer to God. <\/p>\n

We also recommend: 
Mariusz and Kamil Drapikowski - Art in the Circle of the Sacred<\/a>
What next for the Amber Altar?<\/a>
The Amber Altar is half finished - an interview with Mariusz Drapikowski<\/a>
Medal of Msstvo II for Mariusz Drapikowski<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Media reports about the Amber Altarpiece were exaggerated from the very beginning of its creation. Mariusz Drapikowski, co-creator of the Altarpiece and creator of many significant amber works of sacred themes, straightens out: the project is only half completed.\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":17443,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"slim_seo":{"title":"Bursztynowy O\u0142tarz jest uko\u0144czony w po\u0142owie \u2013 rozmowa z Mariuszem Drapikowskim - Amber Portal","description":"Media reports about the Amber Altarpiece were exaggerated from the very beginning of its creation. Mariusz Drapikowski, co-creator of the Altar and creator of many"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[156],"sekcja":[245],"class_list":["post-17444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wywiady","tag-bursztynowa-komnata","sekcja-ludzie-opinie"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17444"},{"taxonomy":"sekcja","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sekcja?post=17444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}