Węgrów Basilica – Twardowski's Mirror

Masovien · Polen · Church

The sacristy at Węgrów keeps the sorcerer Twardowski's mirror – in which he is said to have conjured the ghost of dead Queen Barbara.

In the sacristy of the basilica at Węgrów, east of Warsaw, hangs a strange 16th-century mirror of gold and silver alloy, cracked into three pieces. Legend holds that it belonged to the sorcerer Twardowski, who had sold his soul to the devil, and that in its black surface he conjured, in 1571, the spirit of the dead Queen Barbara Radziwiłłówna for the grieving King Sigismund Augustus. When the king, against all warnings, tried to touch the apparition, the mirror cracked and the ghost vanished. The Latin inscription on the frame still records that Twardowski performed "magic arts" with the mirror, now given over to the service of God.

FAQ

Hvor ligger Węgrów Basilica – Twardowski's Mirror?

Węgrów Basilica – Twardowski's Mirror ligger i Masovien, Polen.