DOI article:
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 Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.54670#0011
10
of hidden meanings and historical contexts of medieval
architecture,39 even though, as will be stated again in the
conclusion to this essay, such research endeavours were
not always fully successful.
The limited scope of this essay does not allow us to crit-
ically and exhaustively assess all the works by Polish au-
thors that form a part of the intellectual current in medi-
eval studies initiated by Richard Krautheimer and Günter
Bandmann. It must be stated that this is not a very large
body of texts; but, to be fair, this is mostly because the
group of academics involved in researching medieval ar-
chitecture has always been rather small in Poland and,
when compared with other countries of Europe, there is
a dearth of structures - mainly ecclesiastical ones - whose
form and decoration would justify complex and sophis-
ticated assumptions as to their original ideological con-
tents. These rarely exceed the “standard” symbolism of
a Christian temple as explicated by, for instance, the Ra-
tionale divinorum officiorum by Durand of Mende and are
collected in the fundamental compendium by Joseph Sau-
er.40
It must also be noted that this last, allegorical layer
of a medieval building’s meaning was definitely the one
which Polish scholars discussed the most infrequent-
ly, probably because Christian symbolism of this type
was quite standard and universal in its character. Works
by Rev. Stanislaw Kobielus are more comprehensive in
their nature;41 some scholars, however, were given to con-
structing far-reaching allegoric interpretations based on
numerological interpretations of architectural forms.
For instance, Bogusław Czechowicz looked for apostol-
ic symbolism in the twenty-two (sic!) pillars separating
39 Among best recent works concerning the “historicity” of medieval
buildings the following should be noted: S. Albrecht, Die Insze-
nierung der Vergangenheit im Mittelalter. Die Klöster von Glaston-
bury und Saint-Denis, Munich and Berlin, 2003; Romanesque and
the Past. Retrospection in the Art and Architecture of Romanesque
Europe, ed. by J. McNeill, R. Plant, Leeds, 2003; H. Horn, Die Tra-
dition des Ortes. Ein formbestimmendes Moment in der deutschen
Sakralarchitektur des Mittelalters, Munich and Berlin, 2015; idem,
Erinnerungen, geschrieben in Stein. Spuren der Vergangenheit in
der mittelalterlichen Kirchenbaukultur, Munich and Berlin, 2017.
See also a recent survey: К. J. Czyżewski, М. Walczak, ‘Sztuka
nowożytna wobec tradycji średniowiecza. Uwarunkowania - mo-
tywacje - realizacje’, in Historyzm - tradycjonalizm - archaizacja.
Studia z dziejów świadomości historycznej w średniowieczu i okre-
sie nowożytnym, ed. by M. Walczak, Cracow, 2015, pp. 11-59.
40 See note 8.
41 See, among others: S. Kobielus, Niebiańska Jerozolima. Od “sac-
rum” miejsca do “sacrum” modelu, Warsaw, 1989; idem, Bestiarium
chrześcijańskie: zwierzęta w symbolice i interpretacji. Starożytność
i średniowiecze, Warsaw, 2002; idem, Florarium christianum: sym-
bolika roślin. Chrześcijańska starożytność i średniowiecze, Cracow,
2006.
the naves of the parish church in Nysa,42 while Tomasz
Węcławowicz pondered the religious meanings of the
central pillar in the church of the Holy Cross in Cracow43
and interpreted the dodecahedral rosette in the western
façade of Cracow’s cathedral as “foreshadowing the es-
chatological meanings of the church’s interior”.44 As a rule,
such conceptions are unfounded overinterpretations that
do not withstand criticism. In contrast to them, argumen-
tation presented in the noteworthy studies by Andrzej
Grzybkowski is always outstandingly balanced and ex-
tremely solid. This is because Grzybkowski did not yield
to the temptation of ascribing symbolic meanings even
to edifices having such a remarkable shape as the Goth-
ic single-nave churches with a cross-shaped ground plan,
which are fairly numerous in Poland,45 or the funerary
chapels on a round ground plan in Central Pomerania.46
As Grzybkowski put it, it was unlikely that their form
pointed to anything beyond itself. This author’s reserved
attitude towards the pan-symbolic interpretations of me-
dieval church buildings, already apparent in his publica-
tions from the 1970s, is fully compliant with Crossley’s
criticism of the research methods applied by the earlier
“iconographers” of medieval architecture47 and with the
spirit of Robert Suckale’s studies on changes in the mean-
ing of the Gothic rosette, in which he demonstrated that
by the second half of the 13th century those windows had
already lost any discernable symbolic meaning.48
More numerous, and far more diverse, are the results
of research on the historical meanings (in the sense pro-
posed Bandmann) of medieval buildings in Poland, with-
in the country’s former and contemporary borders. It is
immediately noticeable that numerous works published
42 B. Czechowicz, ‘Nyski kościół św. Jakuba jako collegium aposto-
lorum i ecclesia primitiva’, in Nysa. Sztuka w dawnej stolicy księ-
stwa biskupiego, ed. by R. Hołownia, M. Kapustka, Wrocław,
2008, pp. 87-98.
43 T. Węcławowicz, Architektura kościoła św. Krzyża w Krakowie.
Historia badań i nowe pytania badawcze’, in Studia z dziejów koś-
cioła św. Krzyża w Krakowie, vol. 1, ed. by Z. Kliś, Cracow, 1996,
PP- 35-46; idem, ‘Nawa kościoła Św. Krzyża w Krakowie’, in Stu-
dia z dziejów kościoła św. Krzyża w Krakowie, vol. 2, ed. by Z. Kliś,
Cracow, 1997, pp. 197-205; idem, Architektura kościoła św. Krzyża
w wiekach średnich. Rezultaty prac badawczych z lat 1995-1997’
in Studia z dziejów kościoła św. Krzyża w Krakowie, vol. 3, ed. by
Z. Kliś, Cracow, 1999, pp. 55-82.
44 T. Węcławowicz, Krakowski kościół katedralny w wiekach śred-
nich. Funkcje i możliwości interpretacji, Cracow, 2005, p. 129.
45 See: A. Grzybkowski, ‘Centralne gotyckie jednonawowe kościoły
krzyżowe w Polsce’, in idem, Międzyformą, pp. 7-38 (as in note 30).
46 Idem, ‘Kaplice cmentarne w Darłowie, Koszalinie i Słupsku’, in
Między formą, pp. 91-119 (as in note 30).
47 See note 9.
48 R. Suckale, ‘Thesen zum Bedeutungswandel der gotischen Fens-
terrose’, in Bauwerk und Bildwerk im Hochmittelalter. Anschauli-
che Beiträge zur Kultur- und Sozialgeschichte, ed. by K. Clausberg
et al., Gießen, 1981, pp. 259-294.
of hidden meanings and historical contexts of medieval
architecture,39 even though, as will be stated again in the
conclusion to this essay, such research endeavours were
not always fully successful.
The limited scope of this essay does not allow us to crit-
ically and exhaustively assess all the works by Polish au-
thors that form a part of the intellectual current in medi-
eval studies initiated by Richard Krautheimer and Günter
Bandmann. It must be stated that this is not a very large
body of texts; but, to be fair, this is mostly because the
group of academics involved in researching medieval ar-
chitecture has always been rather small in Poland and,
when compared with other countries of Europe, there is
a dearth of structures - mainly ecclesiastical ones - whose
form and decoration would justify complex and sophis-
ticated assumptions as to their original ideological con-
tents. These rarely exceed the “standard” symbolism of
a Christian temple as explicated by, for instance, the Ra-
tionale divinorum officiorum by Durand of Mende and are
collected in the fundamental compendium by Joseph Sau-
er.40
It must also be noted that this last, allegorical layer
of a medieval building’s meaning was definitely the one
which Polish scholars discussed the most infrequent-
ly, probably because Christian symbolism of this type
was quite standard and universal in its character. Works
by Rev. Stanislaw Kobielus are more comprehensive in
their nature;41 some scholars, however, were given to con-
structing far-reaching allegoric interpretations based on
numerological interpretations of architectural forms.
For instance, Bogusław Czechowicz looked for apostol-
ic symbolism in the twenty-two (sic!) pillars separating
39 Among best recent works concerning the “historicity” of medieval
buildings the following should be noted: S. Albrecht, Die Insze-
nierung der Vergangenheit im Mittelalter. Die Klöster von Glaston-
bury und Saint-Denis, Munich and Berlin, 2003; Romanesque and
the Past. Retrospection in the Art and Architecture of Romanesque
Europe, ed. by J. McNeill, R. Plant, Leeds, 2003; H. Horn, Die Tra-
dition des Ortes. Ein formbestimmendes Moment in der deutschen
Sakralarchitektur des Mittelalters, Munich and Berlin, 2015; idem,
Erinnerungen, geschrieben in Stein. Spuren der Vergangenheit in
der mittelalterlichen Kirchenbaukultur, Munich and Berlin, 2017.
See also a recent survey: К. J. Czyżewski, М. Walczak, ‘Sztuka
nowożytna wobec tradycji średniowiecza. Uwarunkowania - mo-
tywacje - realizacje’, in Historyzm - tradycjonalizm - archaizacja.
Studia z dziejów świadomości historycznej w średniowieczu i okre-
sie nowożytnym, ed. by M. Walczak, Cracow, 2015, pp. 11-59.
40 See note 8.
41 See, among others: S. Kobielus, Niebiańska Jerozolima. Od “sac-
rum” miejsca do “sacrum” modelu, Warsaw, 1989; idem, Bestiarium
chrześcijańskie: zwierzęta w symbolice i interpretacji. Starożytność
i średniowiecze, Warsaw, 2002; idem, Florarium christianum: sym-
bolika roślin. Chrześcijańska starożytność i średniowiecze, Cracow,
2006.
the naves of the parish church in Nysa,42 while Tomasz
Węcławowicz pondered the religious meanings of the
central pillar in the church of the Holy Cross in Cracow43
and interpreted the dodecahedral rosette in the western
façade of Cracow’s cathedral as “foreshadowing the es-
chatological meanings of the church’s interior”.44 As a rule,
such conceptions are unfounded overinterpretations that
do not withstand criticism. In contrast to them, argumen-
tation presented in the noteworthy studies by Andrzej
Grzybkowski is always outstandingly balanced and ex-
tremely solid. This is because Grzybkowski did not yield
to the temptation of ascribing symbolic meanings even
to edifices having such a remarkable shape as the Goth-
ic single-nave churches with a cross-shaped ground plan,
which are fairly numerous in Poland,45 or the funerary
chapels on a round ground plan in Central Pomerania.46
As Grzybkowski put it, it was unlikely that their form
pointed to anything beyond itself. This author’s reserved
attitude towards the pan-symbolic interpretations of me-
dieval church buildings, already apparent in his publica-
tions from the 1970s, is fully compliant with Crossley’s
criticism of the research methods applied by the earlier
“iconographers” of medieval architecture47 and with the
spirit of Robert Suckale’s studies on changes in the mean-
ing of the Gothic rosette, in which he demonstrated that
by the second half of the 13th century those windows had
already lost any discernable symbolic meaning.48
More numerous, and far more diverse, are the results
of research on the historical meanings (in the sense pro-
posed Bandmann) of medieval buildings in Poland, with-
in the country’s former and contemporary borders. It is
immediately noticeable that numerous works published
42 B. Czechowicz, ‘Nyski kościół św. Jakuba jako collegium aposto-
lorum i ecclesia primitiva’, in Nysa. Sztuka w dawnej stolicy księ-
stwa biskupiego, ed. by R. Hołownia, M. Kapustka, Wrocław,
2008, pp. 87-98.
43 T. Węcławowicz, Architektura kościoła św. Krzyża w Krakowie.
Historia badań i nowe pytania badawcze’, in Studia z dziejów koś-
cioła św. Krzyża w Krakowie, vol. 1, ed. by Z. Kliś, Cracow, 1996,
PP- 35-46; idem, ‘Nawa kościoła Św. Krzyża w Krakowie’, in Stu-
dia z dziejów kościoła św. Krzyża w Krakowie, vol. 2, ed. by Z. Kliś,
Cracow, 1997, pp. 197-205; idem, Architektura kościoła św. Krzyża
w wiekach średnich. Rezultaty prac badawczych z lat 1995-1997’
in Studia z dziejów kościoła św. Krzyża w Krakowie, vol. 3, ed. by
Z. Kliś, Cracow, 1999, pp. 55-82.
44 T. Węcławowicz, Krakowski kościół katedralny w wiekach śred-
nich. Funkcje i możliwości interpretacji, Cracow, 2005, p. 129.
45 See: A. Grzybkowski, ‘Centralne gotyckie jednonawowe kościoły
krzyżowe w Polsce’, in idem, Międzyformą, pp. 7-38 (as in note 30).
46 Idem, ‘Kaplice cmentarne w Darłowie, Koszalinie i Słupsku’, in
Między formą, pp. 91-119 (as in note 30).
47 See note 9.
48 R. Suckale, ‘Thesen zum Bedeutungswandel der gotischen Fens-
terrose’, in Bauwerk und Bildwerk im Hochmittelalter. Anschauli-
che Beiträge zur Kultur- und Sozialgeschichte, ed. by K. Clausberg
et al., Gießen, 1981, pp. 259-294.