Walking staff decorated with biblical motifs in the collection of the National Museum in Kraków

Abstract

The National Museum in Kraków holds a wooden walking staff adorned with bas-relief scenes depicting events from the Old Testament. The staff was donated to the collection in 1888 by Father Franciszek Szajnok. Although it was exhibited in Lviv in 1894, it has not been displayed since and has not yet received a separate study, which it undoubtedly deserves. Upon its admission to the Museum, the staff was described as a ‘travelling staff’ and dated to the end of the 16th century. However, it was later described as a forgery. The purpose of this study is to verify the inventory records regarding the time and place of the relic’s creation and to introduce this artefact into wider scholarly circulation. Perhaps in the future, the publication will reveal its closer parallels, verifying previous hypotheses and findings.