The history of the last glazing of the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Frombork began, in a rather unusual way, in July 1867, when a powerful hail storm caused serious damage to the windows (especially the northern ones). Shortly after this event, the Frombork chapter decided to renew them

Until now, the cathedral windows had colorless, lead glazing in the form of a rhomboid grid, only enriched with a colored frame on the northern side. Only in the Polish Chapel there were carpet stained glass windows, made in 1861 by the Adolph Seiler Stained Glass Institute from Wrocław (two windows).

Work on the glazing of the cathedral lasted for fifty-seven years (until 1911), and three outstanding workshops took part: Adalbert Redner from Wrocław, Joseph Machhausen from Koblenz and Heinrich Oidtmann from Linnich.

The first order was awarded to Heinrich Oidtmann's Rhineland stained glass company. Already in 1868, the carpet glazing for the twelve windows of the nave and the figural stained glass with figures of the apostles, in an architectural frame, for the three northern windows of the presbytery were ready (their installation took place only in 1874). However, Oidtmann's work did not receive particular recognition from the jury.

Perhaps for this reason, for the next forty years, the cathedral's glazing was continued by other workshops? Adalbert Redner from Wrocław and Joseph Maria Machhausen from Koblenz. Work on the glazing of the southern nave began in 1877 with two windows of the Savior's Chapel, for which the Wrocław workshop of Adalbert Redner made stained glass with carpet patterns. Over the next two years (1878 and 1880), in the same workshop, two windows of the southern aisle were created with scenes of the Birth of the Virgin Mary and the Presentation in the Temple within architectural frames. These windows were also not assessed very favorably by the jury. It was considered whether they should be replaced with more appropriate glazing in the future, because they were founded before the program for the entire cycle was defined.

Ultimately, however, the chapter took into account the idea of ​​Bishop Philipp Krementz, who already in 1878 proposed that the southern windows of the nave and the presbytery be decorated with representations of the joys and sufferings of Our Lady. It was decided, despite previous reservations, to refer to Redner's windows and continue with the Marian scenes. However, this task was entrusted to another studio - Joseph Maria Machhausen from Koblenz, who was "warmly recommended from many sides", as wrote the cathedral parish priest and Warmian historian, Franz Dittrich. The iconographic program of the stained glass windows, completed in 1888, differed slightly from Bishop Krementz's proposal, as it was limited to only five nave windows and included: the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries of the Holy Rosary. Each of the windows had three medallion paintings in a decorative frame (except for the window above the porch where only two could fit). The scenes were framed in a border of acanthus leaves and shoots interwoven with a geometric ribbon (in three windows) or in architectural frames (in two windows). These stained glass windows, made using a traditional technique and made of English antique glass, fit perfectly into the Gothic structure of the cathedral. It was said that these were the best stained glass windows that came out of Machhausen's workshop.

In 1907, after almost forty years, Oidtman's workshop again received a commission from the Warmian chapter. At that time, the studio was run by another stained glass artist from this family, Heinrich II Oidtmann, and the order concerned the southern windows of the presbytery, which were to proclaim the glory of the Holy Trinity and the Mother of God, the patron saint of the cathedral. The first window from the east depicted Te Deum, i.e. praising God in the Holy Trinity. by the choirs of angels, apostles, martyrs and representatives of the church on earth. The figure of the then bishop Andreas Thiel and members of the chapter, including even parish priest Dittrich, who dealt with matters related to the glazing of the cathedral, were placed here. The window, the second from the east, depicted the Glory of Mary, and among the figures adoring her there was, among others, … Nicolaus Copernicus. Two more windows (actually "halves" of windows above the Polish Chapel) showed scenes of the martyrdom of Saint. Andrew - the second patron of the cathedral and Saint. Wojciech. Moreover, at the same time, Oidtmann's company also made a stained glass rosette with a depiction of the Dove of the Holy Spirit for the eastern window of the presbytery. Four years after the completion of these works, in 1911, Heinrich II Oidtmann received a commission for the three northern windows of the presbytery. The stained glass windows with the figures of the apostles, made by his father forty-four years earlier, seemed to let too little light through, so it was decided to replace them with stained glass panels with bright carpet patterns. In the same year, carpet glazing with the monogram of Mary was also ordered for the window of the southern nave (above the entrance to the Chapel of the Savior).

The destruction of the last war meant that only little of the last glazing of the Frombork cathedral survived. Although most of the cathedral's stained glass windows were created in the workshop of Oidtmann of Linnich, today little remains of his work. Of the six hundred quarters made by this studio (constituting the filling of twenty-one windows), only thirty remain on site. Only the rose window in the eastern wall of the presbytery, the window above the Savior Chapel and the western windows of the nave have survived. Of Machhausen's five windows (containing two hundred and ten panels), only two (containing ninety panels) have survived. Of Redner's two windows, in the southern aisle, only one remains intact. However, Redner's stained-glass carpet windows in the Savior Chapel, which were seriously damaged, were replaced with new ones in the 1990s. Adolph Seiler's glass from the Polish Chapel was also lost.

In 1995, the Nicolaus Copernicus Museum in Frombork undertook the reconstruction of the remains of stained glass removed from the cathedral windows after the war. With the cooperation of the Wrocław stained glass studio of Sławomir Oleszczuk, sixty quarters have been recreated so far. It's not much, considering the losses, but at the same time it's a lot considering the condition of the material on which work was started, which consisted of destructible quarters in the form of bent lead mesh with glass remnants and a pile of glass rubble. Unfortunately, it is impossible to return the reconstructed quarters to their historic places in the cathedral windows. Due to their poor state of preservation, conservation could only be carried out with a view to placing them in museum exhibition conditions. Today, this collection is a unique museum collection of 19th and 20th century sacred stained glass windows in the country. The recovered stained glass windows can be seen at the "Frombork Stained Glass" exhibition in the Gothic hall of the old bishop's palace on the Cathedral Hill.

During the reconstruction, it was possible to recreate the quarters of all the stained glass workshops involved in the last glazing of the cathedral - Adolph Seiler, Heinrich Oidtmann, Adalbert Redner, but above all, Joseph Machhausen, whose stained glass windows were recovered the most (forty-six quarters). The reconstruction is still ongoing, so the exhibition arrangement is changing. Currently, the exhibition mainly shows the quarters of Machhausen's workshop. There are fragments of scenes such as: The Flight into Egypt, Finding Jesus in the Temple, Holy Family, Crucifixion of Christ, Pieta and Descent of the Holy Spirit.

Curator of the exhibition:  Weronika Wojnowska
Technical implementation of the exhibition:  Andrzej Długołęcki, Dariusz Grzesiak
Conservation preparation of objects:  Sławomir Oleszczuk