DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41590#0203
Jerzy Kowalczyk. Referring to Roman Zwierzchowski's report. I
should like to say that a group of churches in the Lublin re-
gion, having a central "Greek cross" plan with chapels between
the arms at the crossing (Church of the Missionaries in Lublin,
churches at Wlostowice, Graböw, and Serniki), are described by
me in the book "Architektura sakralna miçdzy Wisiç a Bugiem w
okresie pôénego baroku" (ed. Lubelskie Towarzystwo Naukowe, in
press). In it I paid particular attention to the wooden church
at Graböw (only its facade was of m'asonry), which was built in
1731 and burnt down in 1915. It had a dome and two towers over
the chapels between the arms of the Greek cross, in its plan
and in the divisions of the facade clearly referring to the
churches raised on a central plan by Tylman of Gameren, and
especially to the Royal Chapel in Gdansk. As regards the church
at Serniki, I believe it to be the work of the architect Jakub
Fontana, though Dr Aldona Bartczakowa, author of a monograph of
that architect, did not accept this attribution, advanced long
ago by Zbigniew Rewski. The architectural treatment of the
church at Serniki is distinguished by its graceful elegance and
noble restraint, in this respect resembling the French models
which were always admired by Jakub Fontana. The type of single-
tower facade represented in the above-mentioned church was po-
pular in the Late Barooue period throughout Central Europe; nor
was it strange to French architecture.
Zwierzchowski's considerations os the ideological and artistic
programme of the churches built on a central plan by Pawel An-
toni Fontana in the Lublin region give rise to some reflections.
The presence in this group of oval churches of the figures of
the Fathers of the Church and of the saints against the pillars
resembles the solution inside the Church of St Anne in Cracow,
in which, to be sure, the figures of the Apostles ere painted
but are nevertheless also set up against the pillars and carry
a similar ideological signisicance. According to liturgical sym-
bolism, the saints are the pillars os the Church. The tradition
of this symbolic representation was centuries old and it did not
lose its topicality in the Baroque period, this being clearly
evidenced by several publications in modern times of a treatise
on liturgical symbolism written by Durandus in the 13th century.
I think it would be too much to emphasize, as does Zwierz-
chowski, the role of the triumphal arcn scheme in the shaping of
the interior of the churches designed on a central plan by Pa-
wel Antoni Fontana. That architect began his activity in Poland
with the designing of churches for the Reformat! and the Ca-
puchins, who adhered closely to the building regulations drawn
up in accordance with the strict rules of the order. Fontana was
an architect with a feeling for the problems of space and town-
planning. In Lubartöw, he excellently set the parish church
between the town and the residence of the Sanguszko family,
senced it with a fine open-work - enclosure, ano in masterly
manner placed a bell tower in the corner of the square adjacent
201
should like to say that a group of churches in the Lublin re-
gion, having a central "Greek cross" plan with chapels between
the arms at the crossing (Church of the Missionaries in Lublin,
churches at Wlostowice, Graböw, and Serniki), are described by
me in the book "Architektura sakralna miçdzy Wisiç a Bugiem w
okresie pôénego baroku" (ed. Lubelskie Towarzystwo Naukowe, in
press). In it I paid particular attention to the wooden church
at Graböw (only its facade was of m'asonry), which was built in
1731 and burnt down in 1915. It had a dome and two towers over
the chapels between the arms of the Greek cross, in its plan
and in the divisions of the facade clearly referring to the
churches raised on a central plan by Tylman of Gameren, and
especially to the Royal Chapel in Gdansk. As regards the church
at Serniki, I believe it to be the work of the architect Jakub
Fontana, though Dr Aldona Bartczakowa, author of a monograph of
that architect, did not accept this attribution, advanced long
ago by Zbigniew Rewski. The architectural treatment of the
church at Serniki is distinguished by its graceful elegance and
noble restraint, in this respect resembling the French models
which were always admired by Jakub Fontana. The type of single-
tower facade represented in the above-mentioned church was po-
pular in the Late Barooue period throughout Central Europe; nor
was it strange to French architecture.
Zwierzchowski's considerations os the ideological and artistic
programme of the churches built on a central plan by Pawel An-
toni Fontana in the Lublin region give rise to some reflections.
The presence in this group of oval churches of the figures of
the Fathers of the Church and of the saints against the pillars
resembles the solution inside the Church of St Anne in Cracow,
in which, to be sure, the figures of the Apostles ere painted
but are nevertheless also set up against the pillars and carry
a similar ideological signisicance. According to liturgical sym-
bolism, the saints are the pillars os the Church. The tradition
of this symbolic representation was centuries old and it did not
lose its topicality in the Baroque period, this being clearly
evidenced by several publications in modern times of a treatise
on liturgical symbolism written by Durandus in the 13th century.
I think it would be too much to emphasize, as does Zwierz-
chowski, the role of the triumphal arcn scheme in the shaping of
the interior of the churches designed on a central plan by Pa-
wel Antoni Fontana. That architect began his activity in Poland
with the designing of churches for the Reformat! and the Ca-
puchins, who adhered closely to the building regulations drawn
up in accordance with the strict rules of the order. Fontana was
an architect with a feeling for the problems of space and town-
planning. In Lubartöw, he excellently set the parish church
between the town and the residence of the Sanguszko family,
senced it with a fine open-work - enclosure, ano in masterly
manner placed a bell tower in the corner of the square adjacent
201