An iconic depiction of The Battle of Grunwald by Matejko is undergoing conservation work.

Visitors to Warsaw’s National Museum this summer are likely to be disappointed.  Several weeks before the 600th anniversary of the  Battle of Grunwald  which saw Polish and Lithuanian forces defeat the German Teutonic Order on 15 July, 1410, Jan Matejko’s canvass The Battle of Grunwald will be taken off its frame for conservation.

The conservation project will take 18 months to complete and will be conducted in the exhibition hall where the picture is currently on display. Art lovers will be able to watch the conservators at work. A 3D reconstruction of the canvas by the prominent animation artist Tomasz Bagiński will also be on view.

Completed in 1878, The Battle of Grunwald is the largest of Matejko's paintings, measuring 997 by 426 cm (42 square metres). It is regarded as a masterpiece of battle scene painting.

The director of the National Museum, Piotr Piotrowski, told a press conference that the painting is to be shown at a major exhibition documenting the 1000 years of Polish-German history, to be held in Berlin in the autumn  of 2011.

A wide range of events is planned for July to mark the anniversary of the 1410 battle, including its re-enactment at the village of Grunwald in northern

Poland, the scene of one of the largest battles in medieval Europe  and  one of the most glorious military victories in Polish history. (mk)