Late Baroque Period
Just in 1657 the reconstruction of the castle started, under the Italian's architect Izydor Affait guidance. Because of the lack of money the following Polish king, Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, did not decide on radical rebuilding of the object, just limiting to vanishing destructions. Because of bad conditions of the residence he had to move to Ujazdów Castle in 1669. Until 1696 when the next Polish king, John III Sobieski died, no serious works were done. They only limited work to current inspections of the building's condition. Sessions of Parliament continued to be held in the castle, as well as various State occasions, such as when the Hohenzollern Dukes of Prussia paid homage to the Kings of Poland and occasions when the king received the ambassadors of foreign countries.
After choosing Augustus II in an election in 1697, the castle again began to deteriorate. A new conflict with the king of Sweden Charles XII significantly charged king's budget. Despite problems, in 1698 Augustus II commissioned to prepare a residence reconstruction project. In 1700 it was done by Johann Friedrich Karcher, fetched from abroad. On 25 May 1702 Swedes reseized the Royal Castle in Warsaw, arranging there a hospital with 500 beds, and in The Chamber of Deputies and ministers’ rooms a stable. During the Polish army's siege in 1704 the castle was retaken. However, it soon moved to Sweden's army. In 1707, by virtue of the peace treaty between Augustus II and Charles XII of Sweden, Russian allied troops entered Warsaw, and Tsar Peter I of Russia settled in the castle. After two months, Russian forces were removed from Warsaw, robbing from the castle works of art, for example Tommaso Dolabella's pictures, among them two, important for Russians, paintings: The Defense of Smolensk and Russian Tsar Vasili IV compelled to kneel before Polish King Sigismund III of Poland. The Władysław's Opera Hall was completely devastated and was never restored.
The reconstruction according to Karcher's project began during 1713-1715. In 1717 the Parliament Hall was completely rebuilt. It was to serve the Saxon rulers as a coronation hall. During the following years, between 1722-1723, the other castle halls were converted-under the direction of architect Joachim Daniel von Jauch the new Senate Chamber was built, and all the furnishings moved from the old to the new location, among others 60 Polish province emblems, paneling, mouldings and lizens. On 31 May 1732, a fire broke out in the castle destroying the west elevation and part of the Zygmunt's Tower and the exterior façade sculptures, known as armature.
The next reconstruction project of the Royal Castle appeared after Augustus III took to the Polish throne in 1733. New plans, which were formed in 1734 and developed in 1737 by architect Gaetano Chiaveri, saw among other things the reconstruction of the castle's façade on the Vistula side in the rococo style, which was meant to form a new so called Saxon elevation and also the conversion of the north-east part with the Altana Tower, where it was planned for 3 two-storey rysalits to be built on. The reconstruction work according to these projects was carried out with various intensity between 1740-1752. During the period of 1740-1747 the façade on the Vistula side was reconstructed in the late baroque style (architects: Gaetano Chiaveri, Carl Friedrich Pöppelmann, Jan Krzysztof Knöffel). One of the best sculptors who did work on the castle of this period was Jan Jerzy Plersch, who made the royal decorative frames, mouldings and statues called the Famous Figures, which held the royal crowns on the top of the middle rysalit, of the Saxon elevation, on the Vistula side. The last reconstruction work of this period was finished by late 1763, after the death of Augustus III, when Plersch made the last sculptures and frames with province emblems for the Parliament Hall.
Read more about this topic: History Of The Royal Castle In Warsaw
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