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#0014
13
serious scholarly debate.65 Węcławowicz did try to place
his analysis on a theoretical basis by including a very
brief chapter on the possibilities of reading medieval ar-
chitecture as a text of culture, but his iconographie inter-
pretations of the Cracow cathedral are mostly ground-
less, lacking basis either in the architecture of the church
itself or in the known source materials. It is only recently
that Piotr Pajor has entered into a serious debate with
both Crossleys and Węcławowiczs hypotheses, taking
under consideration the constantly changing state of
historical knowledge.66 This allows us to hope that the
Cracow cathedral, one of the most important churches
of medieval Poland, will finally receive a new, balanced
interpretation that will consider all the convincing find-
ings made in the area discussed herein and presented in
specialist literature since the first comprehensive mono-
graph of the cathedral, by Tadeusz Wojciechowski, ap-
peared in 1900.67
Since the end of the last century, Polish research on
the ideological content of medieval architecture has
been standing at a crossroads, so to speak, reflecting in
that respect the state of medieval studies worldwide. On
the one hand, few scholars undertake to present broadly
conceived conceptions which, by creating a sui generis
system of cultural references, would attempt to unequiv-
ocally explain the hidden meanings of medieval edifices
and, especially, their concrete types or stylistic groups.
Yet considering the criticism levelled at the great theo-
ries of Panofsky and von Simson this is not surprising.
On the other hand, it is evident that research on particu-
lar buildings is increasingly more precise and reliable.
Here, critical opinions voiced by those scholars who no-
ticed the weak points in Krautheimers and Bandmanns
methods of argumentation were beneficial. A break-
through in this respect occurred around the year 1980
in West Germany. Studying the architecture of Reims
cathedral, Hans-Joachim Kunst from Marburg Univer-
sity formulated the theory of an architectural quotation,
which he later developed in cooperation with Wolfgang
Schenkluhn.68 The elastic and semantically capacious
65 Cf. T. Węcławowicz, Krakowski kościół, passim (as in note 44).
66 P. Pajor, ‘Topografia sakralna katedry krakowskiej w XIV wieku
a kult św. Stanisława’, in Średniowieczna architektura, pp. 283-299
(as in note 57); idem, ‘Dwa chóry katedry krakowskiej niezreali-
zowane w pierwszym dwudziestoleciu XIV wieku’, Biuletyn Histo-
rii Sztuki, 77,2015, no. 2, pp. 197-221; idem, ‘T. Węcławowicz, Coc-
to latere nobilitavit. O ceglanych murach kościołów średniowiecz-
nego Krakowa, Cracow, 2013 (book review), Folia Historiae Ar-
tium, Seria Nowa, 13, 2015, pp. 176-186.
67 See: T. Wojciechowski, Kościół katedralny w Krakowie, Cracow,
1900. A new monograph on the gothic architecture of the cathe-
dral is currently under preparation: J. Adamski, P. Pajor, Gotyc-
ka katedra w Krakowie i architektura europejska około roku 1300,
Cracow [due to appear in 2021].
68 See: H.-J. Kunst, ‘Freiheit und Zitat in der Architektur des 13. Jahr-
hunderts - die Kathedrale von Reims’, in Bauwerk und Bildwerk,
concept of an architectural quotation - that is, a delib-
erate repetition, usually imbued with certain meaning,
of forms of one edifice for some reason considered im-
portant in another - was precisely the research tool that
was missing in the pioneering studies by Krautheimer
and Bandmann. Robert Suckale, in turn, working in Mu-
nich, Bamberg and finally Berlin, in his famous book on
French architecture in the years 1140-1270 admirably
showed how a detailed study of the historical context,
and especially of the socio-political and economic con-
ditions of the time, makes it possible to better under-
stand why particular architectural forms were selected
for a given building;69 in this manner, the building re-
gains its original message in the eyes of contemporary
users. Also, Suckale put forward, in 1993, the famous for-
mulation that “the questions of style are not solely ques-
tions of form, but are questions of a historical nature”;70
consequently, a properly contextualised research of the
artistic form of the given work may result in a more
thorough recognition of the tangible historical message
that it once contained.
It is evident that any cognitive method can lead the
researcher astray if it is used incorrectly and without
due care. However, the approach to researching medi-
eval architecture as laid out by Kunst and Suckale ap-
pears to be the most appropriate today, and its research
results the most reliable. In Poland, this is best exempli-
fied by the publications of a generation of experts in me-
dieval art history who began their academic careers in
the late 1980s and early 1990s, Jarosław Jarzewicz fore-
most among them. His studies are characterised by con-
siderable prudence in formulating conclusions, and at
the same time they often present well-documented re-
flections on the original ideological content of medieval
structures in Poland.71 Importantly, Jarzewiczs doctoral
pp. 87-102 (as in note 48); idem, Die Marienkirche in Lübeck.
Die Präsenz bischöflicher Architekturformen in der Bürgerkirche,
Worms, 1986; H.-J. Kunst, W. Schenkluhn, Die Kathedrale in
Reims. Architektur als Schauplatz politischer Bedeutungen, Frank-
furt am Main, 1987. See also studies collected in: Architektur als
Zitat (as in note 31).
69 D. Kimpel, R. Suckale, Die gotische Architektur in Frankreich
1130-1270, Munich, 1985.
70 R. Suckale, Die Hofkunst Kaiser Ludwigs des Bayern, München,
1993, p. 13.
71 Among others: J. Jarzewicz, Architekt chóru kościoła francisz-
kanów w Szczecinie’, in Sztuka Średniowiecza na Pomorzu. II semi-
narium naukowe Oddziału Szczecińskiego Stowarzyszenia Histo-
ryków Sztuki, Szczecin, październik 1989, ed. by M. Glińska, J. Ko-
chanowska, K. Kroman, Szczecin, 1989, pp. 49-63; idem, ‘De con-
structione ecclesiae. O artystycznych i społecznych uwarunkowa-
niach budowy kościoła św. Jakuba w Nysie’, Artium Quaestiones,
8,1997, pp. 27-59; idem, ‘Stargard i Mediolan, czyli co architektu-
ra może powiedzieć o horyzontach kulturalnych mieszczaństwa
nadbałtyckiego w późnym średniowieczu’, in Świat średniowiecza.
Studia ofiarowane Profesorowi Henrykowi Samsonowiczowi, ed.
serious scholarly debate.65 Węcławowicz did try to place
his analysis on a theoretical basis by including a very
brief chapter on the possibilities of reading medieval ar-
chitecture as a text of culture, but his iconographie inter-
pretations of the Cracow cathedral are mostly ground-
less, lacking basis either in the architecture of the church
itself or in the known source materials. It is only recently
that Piotr Pajor has entered into a serious debate with
both Crossleys and Węcławowiczs hypotheses, taking
under consideration the constantly changing state of
historical knowledge.66 This allows us to hope that the
Cracow cathedral, one of the most important churches
of medieval Poland, will finally receive a new, balanced
interpretation that will consider all the convincing find-
ings made in the area discussed herein and presented in
specialist literature since the first comprehensive mono-
graph of the cathedral, by Tadeusz Wojciechowski, ap-
peared in 1900.67
Since the end of the last century, Polish research on
the ideological content of medieval architecture has
been standing at a crossroads, so to speak, reflecting in
that respect the state of medieval studies worldwide. On
the one hand, few scholars undertake to present broadly
conceived conceptions which, by creating a sui generis
system of cultural references, would attempt to unequiv-
ocally explain the hidden meanings of medieval edifices
and, especially, their concrete types or stylistic groups.
Yet considering the criticism levelled at the great theo-
ries of Panofsky and von Simson this is not surprising.
On the other hand, it is evident that research on particu-
lar buildings is increasingly more precise and reliable.
Here, critical opinions voiced by those scholars who no-
ticed the weak points in Krautheimers and Bandmanns
methods of argumentation were beneficial. A break-
through in this respect occurred around the year 1980
in West Germany. Studying the architecture of Reims
cathedral, Hans-Joachim Kunst from Marburg Univer-
sity formulated the theory of an architectural quotation,
which he later developed in cooperation with Wolfgang
Schenkluhn.68 The elastic and semantically capacious
65 Cf. T. Węcławowicz, Krakowski kościół, passim (as in note 44).
66 P. Pajor, ‘Topografia sakralna katedry krakowskiej w XIV wieku
a kult św. Stanisława’, in Średniowieczna architektura, pp. 283-299
(as in note 57); idem, ‘Dwa chóry katedry krakowskiej niezreali-
zowane w pierwszym dwudziestoleciu XIV wieku’, Biuletyn Histo-
rii Sztuki, 77,2015, no. 2, pp. 197-221; idem, ‘T. Węcławowicz, Coc-
to latere nobilitavit. O ceglanych murach kościołów średniowiecz-
nego Krakowa, Cracow, 2013 (book review), Folia Historiae Ar-
tium, Seria Nowa, 13, 2015, pp. 176-186.
67 See: T. Wojciechowski, Kościół katedralny w Krakowie, Cracow,
1900. A new monograph on the gothic architecture of the cathe-
dral is currently under preparation: J. Adamski, P. Pajor, Gotyc-
ka katedra w Krakowie i architektura europejska około roku 1300,
Cracow [due to appear in 2021].
68 See: H.-J. Kunst, ‘Freiheit und Zitat in der Architektur des 13. Jahr-
hunderts - die Kathedrale von Reims’, in Bauwerk und Bildwerk,
concept of an architectural quotation - that is, a delib-
erate repetition, usually imbued with certain meaning,
of forms of one edifice for some reason considered im-
portant in another - was precisely the research tool that
was missing in the pioneering studies by Krautheimer
and Bandmann. Robert Suckale, in turn, working in Mu-
nich, Bamberg and finally Berlin, in his famous book on
French architecture in the years 1140-1270 admirably
showed how a detailed study of the historical context,
and especially of the socio-political and economic con-
ditions of the time, makes it possible to better under-
stand why particular architectural forms were selected
for a given building;69 in this manner, the building re-
gains its original message in the eyes of contemporary
users. Also, Suckale put forward, in 1993, the famous for-
mulation that “the questions of style are not solely ques-
tions of form, but are questions of a historical nature”;70
consequently, a properly contextualised research of the
artistic form of the given work may result in a more
thorough recognition of the tangible historical message
that it once contained.
It is evident that any cognitive method can lead the
researcher astray if it is used incorrectly and without
due care. However, the approach to researching medi-
eval architecture as laid out by Kunst and Suckale ap-
pears to be the most appropriate today, and its research
results the most reliable. In Poland, this is best exempli-
fied by the publications of a generation of experts in me-
dieval art history who began their academic careers in
the late 1980s and early 1990s, Jarosław Jarzewicz fore-
most among them. His studies are characterised by con-
siderable prudence in formulating conclusions, and at
the same time they often present well-documented re-
flections on the original ideological content of medieval
structures in Poland.71 Importantly, Jarzewiczs doctoral
pp. 87-102 (as in note 48); idem, Die Marienkirche in Lübeck.
Die Präsenz bischöflicher Architekturformen in der Bürgerkirche,
Worms, 1986; H.-J. Kunst, W. Schenkluhn, Die Kathedrale in
Reims. Architektur als Schauplatz politischer Bedeutungen, Frank-
furt am Main, 1987. See also studies collected in: Architektur als
Zitat (as in note 31).
69 D. Kimpel, R. Suckale, Die gotische Architektur in Frankreich
1130-1270, Munich, 1985.
70 R. Suckale, Die Hofkunst Kaiser Ludwigs des Bayern, München,
1993, p. 13.
71 Among others: J. Jarzewicz, Architekt chóru kościoła francisz-
kanów w Szczecinie’, in Sztuka Średniowiecza na Pomorzu. II semi-
narium naukowe Oddziału Szczecińskiego Stowarzyszenia Histo-
ryków Sztuki, Szczecin, październik 1989, ed. by M. Glińska, J. Ko-
chanowska, K. Kroman, Szczecin, 1989, pp. 49-63; idem, ‘De con-
structione ecclesiae. O artystycznych i społecznych uwarunkowa-
niach budowy kościoła św. Jakuba w Nysie’, Artium Quaestiones,
8,1997, pp. 27-59; idem, ‘Stargard i Mediolan, czyli co architektu-
ra może powiedzieć o horyzontach kulturalnych mieszczaństwa
nadbałtyckiego w późnym średniowieczu’, in Świat średniowiecza.
Studia ofiarowane Profesorowi Henrykowi Samsonowiczowi, ed.