Artistic landscape of the former State of the Teutonic Order in Prussia defined by the Gothic crucifixes

The aim of this article is to show a broad artistic panorama of Gothic sculpture of the Teutonic Order State in Prussia. It takes into consideration a few characteristic iconographical types like shrine Madonna and the Beautiful Madonna. But it points out that the numerously preserved woodcarved crucifixes shape the picture of three-dimensional figurative arts of the said state in the eyes of academics and audience. A synthetic review of written sources and scientific approaches was presented, as well as a methodology. Various academic views on one crucifix were shown. Artistic influences and exchange as part of the art of Baltic coast, Central and Western Europe were emphasized. Unpublished, archival photographs were presented and analysed. They show six crucifixes, up to now not known from illustrations.The aim of this article is to show a broad artistic panorama of Gothic sculpture of the Teutonic Order State in Prussia. It takes into consideration a few characteristic iconographical types like shrine Madonna and the Beautiful Madonna. But it points out that the numerously preserved woodcarved crucifixes shape the picture of three-dimensional figurative arts of the said state in the eyes of academics and audience. A synthetic review of written sources and scientific approaches was presented, as well as a methodology. Various academic views on one crucifix were shown. Artistic influences and exchange as part of the art of Baltic coast, Central and Western Europe were emphasized. Unpublished, archival photographs were presented and analysed. They show six crucifixes, up to now not known from illustrations