DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41589#0042
Poland are more modest than those of the Dominicans (constructing three-aisle
basilicas or three-aisle vaulted hall churches) or Cistercians (buildings vaulted basilicas).
The programmes of conventual complexes seem to be more or less similar. All of them
provided the construction of a four-wing closed monastery with a chapter house,
dormitories, refectories, cells, etc. in the Cistercian pattern.
In the period about 1310—1332 a new church in Stary Sqcz was built for Poor
Clares and friars Minor (who had there a separate monastery but without a church)8. It
was built of stone and ashlar. The building consisted of a short, two-bay ’’chapel” choir
and a relatively long, rectangular nave, covered with a roof. This part of the church is
divided into two parts by a transwersal wall, with openwork, situated between the 3rd
and 4th bay. The western part of the nave, behind the transwersal wall is divided into
two storeys. On the upper one there is a gallery where the nuns’ oratory was situated.
The choir, dynamic in its forms, and the western part of the nave were supported by
narrow but sailent buttresses. We should mention the slender proportions of the whole
building and the existence of modest but elegant detail.
The building type of Holy Trinity church in Stary Sq.cz is similar to several
Cistercian and mendicant sanctuaries, particularly in central Europe. For exemple, let
us take Poor Clares’ church in Dürnstein (Austria) and Naples (S. Maria di
Donnaregina), and the Dominican nuns’ church in Imbach (Austria). The sanctuary in
Stary Sqcz is the first known realization of this type in Poand. Its builders introduced
not only a new type but a still unknown style, called die Reduktionsgotik (or
Post-Romanesque). French structural elements were not accepted. Slender but compact
mases supported by buttresses were decorated with up-to-date, post-clasical Gothic detail.
A typological copy of the church in Stary Sqcz was built a few decades later in the
neighbouring city of Nowy Sqcz9. The church no longer exists. The only evidence are
the measurements made at the end of the 18th and the end of the 19th century. The
church was built of ashlar by a local (Lesser Polish) workshop probably trained in the
team building the nave of the Cracow Cathedral and familiar with other contemporary
churches in Cracow (the choir of Our Lady’s, Corporis Christi). The choice of the type
already realized in Stary Sqcz and the fact that it was carried out by a workshop
building different edifices leeds us take into consideration the possibility of Franciscan
decisions in the case of the building programme of the church in Nowy Sqcz. Also the
use of a part of the eminent royal workshop or Kazimir the Great (after the king’s
death) may suggest the participation of Queen Elisabeth (the daughter of Wladyslaw
Lokietek) as patron in the process of foundation and construction of the church10.
In the second period of the development of Franciscan architecture two parts of the
church buildings were constructed by King Casimir the Great. These were the four-bay
long "chapel” choir in Ch^ciny (together with a general idea of a rectangular nave built
in any case at the end of the century) and the ’’chapel” choir of the church in Lelöw (now
destroyed)11. At the very end of the 14th century the building of the minorite church in
Krosno began. Only the lower part of the four-bay long ”chapel” choir, built from stone
up to half its planned height was realized.
Brick was also used. The nave, unfinished in the 13th century of the church in Nowy
Korczyn was completed in about 134312. The nave was projected as higher than the
former choir, which, in accordance with contemporary unwritten aesthetics, was
heightened at the same time.
In the last two decades of the 14th century at the Romanesque church of St. Andrew
a new Gothic sacristy was built13. Its is an adaptation of the typical Lesser-Polish
’’chapel” choir to the complex function (sacristy, oratory, tomb chapel for the nuns ?).
Analogies are to be found in St. Gille’s church in Cracow, in Szydlow, Kargow, the
chapel in the Lublin castle, and others.
The development of the Cracow Minorite monastery continued throughout the
14th century. In ca 1380 there was already a closed four-wing complex, built of brick14.
40
basilicas or three-aisle vaulted hall churches) or Cistercians (buildings vaulted basilicas).
The programmes of conventual complexes seem to be more or less similar. All of them
provided the construction of a four-wing closed monastery with a chapter house,
dormitories, refectories, cells, etc. in the Cistercian pattern.
In the period about 1310—1332 a new church in Stary Sqcz was built for Poor
Clares and friars Minor (who had there a separate monastery but without a church)8. It
was built of stone and ashlar. The building consisted of a short, two-bay ’’chapel” choir
and a relatively long, rectangular nave, covered with a roof. This part of the church is
divided into two parts by a transwersal wall, with openwork, situated between the 3rd
and 4th bay. The western part of the nave, behind the transwersal wall is divided into
two storeys. On the upper one there is a gallery where the nuns’ oratory was situated.
The choir, dynamic in its forms, and the western part of the nave were supported by
narrow but sailent buttresses. We should mention the slender proportions of the whole
building and the existence of modest but elegant detail.
The building type of Holy Trinity church in Stary Sq.cz is similar to several
Cistercian and mendicant sanctuaries, particularly in central Europe. For exemple, let
us take Poor Clares’ church in Dürnstein (Austria) and Naples (S. Maria di
Donnaregina), and the Dominican nuns’ church in Imbach (Austria). The sanctuary in
Stary Sqcz is the first known realization of this type in Poand. Its builders introduced
not only a new type but a still unknown style, called die Reduktionsgotik (or
Post-Romanesque). French structural elements were not accepted. Slender but compact
mases supported by buttresses were decorated with up-to-date, post-clasical Gothic detail.
A typological copy of the church in Stary Sqcz was built a few decades later in the
neighbouring city of Nowy Sqcz9. The church no longer exists. The only evidence are
the measurements made at the end of the 18th and the end of the 19th century. The
church was built of ashlar by a local (Lesser Polish) workshop probably trained in the
team building the nave of the Cracow Cathedral and familiar with other contemporary
churches in Cracow (the choir of Our Lady’s, Corporis Christi). The choice of the type
already realized in Stary Sqcz and the fact that it was carried out by a workshop
building different edifices leeds us take into consideration the possibility of Franciscan
decisions in the case of the building programme of the church in Nowy Sqcz. Also the
use of a part of the eminent royal workshop or Kazimir the Great (after the king’s
death) may suggest the participation of Queen Elisabeth (the daughter of Wladyslaw
Lokietek) as patron in the process of foundation and construction of the church10.
In the second period of the development of Franciscan architecture two parts of the
church buildings were constructed by King Casimir the Great. These were the four-bay
long "chapel” choir in Ch^ciny (together with a general idea of a rectangular nave built
in any case at the end of the century) and the ’’chapel” choir of the church in Lelöw (now
destroyed)11. At the very end of the 14th century the building of the minorite church in
Krosno began. Only the lower part of the four-bay long ”chapel” choir, built from stone
up to half its planned height was realized.
Brick was also used. The nave, unfinished in the 13th century of the church in Nowy
Korczyn was completed in about 134312. The nave was projected as higher than the
former choir, which, in accordance with contemporary unwritten aesthetics, was
heightened at the same time.
In the last two decades of the 14th century at the Romanesque church of St. Andrew
a new Gothic sacristy was built13. Its is an adaptation of the typical Lesser-Polish
’’chapel” choir to the complex function (sacristy, oratory, tomb chapel for the nuns ?).
Analogies are to be found in St. Gille’s church in Cracow, in Szydlow, Kargow, the
chapel in the Lublin castle, and others.
The development of the Cracow Minorite monastery continued throughout the
14th century. In ca 1380 there was already a closed four-wing complex, built of brick14.
40