DOI Artikel:
Adamski, Jakub: Between form and meaning: research on Gothic architecture as a bearer of ideological content in Polish historiography of the last five decades
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.54670#0006
Folia Historiae Artium
Seria Nowa, t. 18: 2020/PL ISSN 0071-6723
JAKUB ADAMSKI
Uniwersytet Warszawski
BETWEEN FORM AND MEANING.
RESEARCH ON GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE
AS A BEARER OF IDEOLOGICAL CONTENT
IN POLISH HISTORIOGRAPHY
OF THE LAST FIVE DECADES
In most of the European countries, the beginnings of art
history as a separate academic discipline complete with its
own methodology are concurrent with the early stages of
professional research on medieval architecture. Over two
centuries of the development of research currents, meth-
odological approaches and various tools used in discov-
ering the history of medieval European architecture, and
the ideological content hidden therein, have yielded abun-
dant and varied results. This has been true also in Poland,
where the pioneering works of academic art history in-
clude the excellent studies by Władysław Luszczkiewicz
and Marian Sokołowski concerning the oldest works of
masonry architecture to be found in the country; stud-
ies which remain an important reference point to present-
day researchers.1
The current essay pertains to only one thematic trend
in Polish research on medieval, especially Gothic, archi-
tecture, that is, its broadly understood iconography, inter-
preted as attempts to read the works of architecture as car-
riers of varied ideological contents. It must be emphasised
1 The current article was written as part of the National Science
Centre research grant conducted under my supervision (OPUS
n; DEC-2016/21/B/HS2/00598). The text was translated by Klau-
dyna Michałowicz, to whom I express my gratitude.
All the important studies by Sokołowski and Łuszczewicz are cit-
ed in the catalogues of Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque archi-
tecture in Poland; see: Sztuka polska przedromańska i romańska
do schyłku XIII wieku, ed. by M. Walicki, vol. 2: M. Pietrusińska,
Katalog i bibliografia zabytków, Warsaw, 1971; Z. Świechowski,
Architektura romańska w Polsce, Warsaw, 2000; idem, Katalog ar-
chitektury romańskiej w Polsce, Warsaw, 2009.
at the very outset that Polish achievements in this field,
although not extensive in terms of quantity, stem directly
from the main research currents in international schol-
arship of the last century. Admittedly, nearly all of those
studies refer to issues of, at most, Central-European sig-
nificance; however, considering the choice of subjects and
specific research tools applied thereto, they may be per-
ceived as an integral and representative component of
the whole research yield in that particular area. For this
reason, the absence of an at least rough presentation of
the circumstances in which the so-called “iconographie
breakthrough” in European research on medieval art oc-
curred in the middle of the 20th century would make an
outline of Polish research into the iconography of medi-
eval architecture unclear to readers less acquainted with
the subject.
During the initial phase of scholarly interest in the
works of medieval architecture, which in the pioneering
countries - France, the United Kingdom and Germany -
occurred in the early decades of the 19th century, the overall
aim was, understandably, to recognise, describe and cata-
logue this exceedingly rich and varied legacy. In France,
research of this type was carried out by members of anti-
quarian and archaeological associations, who undertook
the arduous task of systematically gathering information
on, describing and comparing relevant buildings, and, in
effect, classifying and separating them into types and re-
gional groups in a truly Linnaean manner.2 The founding
2 T. Rodzińska-Chorąży, Zespoły rezydencjonalne i kościo-
ły centralne na ziemiach polskich do połowy XII wieku, Cra-
cow, 2009, pp. 224-248; H. Karge, ‘System und Entwicklung.
Publikacja jest udostępniona na licencji Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL).
Seria Nowa, t. 18: 2020/PL ISSN 0071-6723
JAKUB ADAMSKI
Uniwersytet Warszawski
BETWEEN FORM AND MEANING.
RESEARCH ON GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE
AS A BEARER OF IDEOLOGICAL CONTENT
IN POLISH HISTORIOGRAPHY
OF THE LAST FIVE DECADES
In most of the European countries, the beginnings of art
history as a separate academic discipline complete with its
own methodology are concurrent with the early stages of
professional research on medieval architecture. Over two
centuries of the development of research currents, meth-
odological approaches and various tools used in discov-
ering the history of medieval European architecture, and
the ideological content hidden therein, have yielded abun-
dant and varied results. This has been true also in Poland,
where the pioneering works of academic art history in-
clude the excellent studies by Władysław Luszczkiewicz
and Marian Sokołowski concerning the oldest works of
masonry architecture to be found in the country; stud-
ies which remain an important reference point to present-
day researchers.1
The current essay pertains to only one thematic trend
in Polish research on medieval, especially Gothic, archi-
tecture, that is, its broadly understood iconography, inter-
preted as attempts to read the works of architecture as car-
riers of varied ideological contents. It must be emphasised
1 The current article was written as part of the National Science
Centre research grant conducted under my supervision (OPUS
n; DEC-2016/21/B/HS2/00598). The text was translated by Klau-
dyna Michałowicz, to whom I express my gratitude.
All the important studies by Sokołowski and Łuszczewicz are cit-
ed in the catalogues of Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque archi-
tecture in Poland; see: Sztuka polska przedromańska i romańska
do schyłku XIII wieku, ed. by M. Walicki, vol. 2: M. Pietrusińska,
Katalog i bibliografia zabytków, Warsaw, 1971; Z. Świechowski,
Architektura romańska w Polsce, Warsaw, 2000; idem, Katalog ar-
chitektury romańskiej w Polsce, Warsaw, 2009.
at the very outset that Polish achievements in this field,
although not extensive in terms of quantity, stem directly
from the main research currents in international schol-
arship of the last century. Admittedly, nearly all of those
studies refer to issues of, at most, Central-European sig-
nificance; however, considering the choice of subjects and
specific research tools applied thereto, they may be per-
ceived as an integral and representative component of
the whole research yield in that particular area. For this
reason, the absence of an at least rough presentation of
the circumstances in which the so-called “iconographie
breakthrough” in European research on medieval art oc-
curred in the middle of the 20th century would make an
outline of Polish research into the iconography of medi-
eval architecture unclear to readers less acquainted with
the subject.
During the initial phase of scholarly interest in the
works of medieval architecture, which in the pioneering
countries - France, the United Kingdom and Germany -
occurred in the early decades of the 19th century, the overall
aim was, understandably, to recognise, describe and cata-
logue this exceedingly rich and varied legacy. In France,
research of this type was carried out by members of anti-
quarian and archaeological associations, who undertook
the arduous task of systematically gathering information
on, describing and comparing relevant buildings, and, in
effect, classifying and separating them into types and re-
gional groups in a truly Linnaean manner.2 The founding
2 T. Rodzińska-Chorąży, Zespoły rezydencjonalne i kościo-
ły centralne na ziemiach polskich do połowy XII wieku, Cra-
cow, 2009, pp. 224-248; H. Karge, ‘System und Entwicklung.
Publikacja jest udostępniona na licencji Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL).