Closely connected with Plock Cathedral, the Plock Pontifical is the oldest Polish pontifical that survived in its entirety. Its depictions of the Depositio Crucis and Visitatio Sepulchri rites and of the resurrection procession are the oldest ones in Poland.
From the day it was written, the manuscript was part of the Plock Cathedral collection; next, it was moved to the Seminary Library. In the spring of 1940, along with other archival materials, it was confiscated by an expert committee from Königsberg and taken to Germany. After the war, in 1973, it was acquired by the Bavarian State Library in Munich as a ritual with a pontifical of German origin from the 14th century, written down in Latin on parchment.
In 1977, the manuscript was identified by Polish researchers. From then on, the Plock Curia with support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanded its return. On the MFA initiative, at the beginning of 2015 Plock Bishop Piotr Libera requested the Director of the Bavarian State Library that the Plock Pontifical be returned. Thanks to efforts by the MFA and the Polish Consulate General in Munich, the Bavarian authorities decided to hand the priceless manuscript back to Poland.
Source: Press Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Poland,
Photo © Karolina Siemion-Bielska/ Michał Jasiulewicz/MFA
