DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.38678#0016
Place de la Concorde in Paris; as a whole, however, it was a creative and outstanding design,
perhaps the most interesting example of how the neoclassical style took shape in Poland at the
beginning of the Age of Enlightenment.
In 1761, Szreger began the reconstruction of Gniezno Cathedral, following a great fire. This
reconstruction was expected to include the plastering of the faęade and towers, “reforming”
of the cornices and the most beautiful decoration of the faęade and towers, “to the taste of the
contemporary age”. In 1766 work was finishedon the construction of the great altar, designed
by Szreger, with marbled columnar architecture, which was distinctly neoclassical. In the
early sixties, Szreger gave neoclassical features to still another building, the pałace at
Skierniewice, which was rebuilt, at the order of Primate Łubieński, between 1761-1765.
The designs of Coustou and Szreger mentioned above indicate that it would be wrong to
identify the beginnings of neoclassicism in Poland, as some scholars have done, with the
accession to the throne of King Stanislas Augustus Poniatowski, despite his enormous role in
the formation of Polish neoclassical art.
Everything that in 1760-1780 showed symptoms of a new taste in the arts, constituting a new
stage in artistic evolution, all that indicated interest in the new views and arose under royal,
magnate, gentry, burgher or ecclesiastic patronage, should justly be included in the artistic
culture of the Age of Enlightenment in Poland, and - whether it showed signs of the
antiąuating, Palladian or neoclassical trends from the Renaissance, the 17th or 18th centuries
- be called early neoclassical art. These trends of the Enlightenment art came about
1760-1780.
The interest in ancient art and artistic culture, which was so important a factor in the process
of the formation of neoclassical trends in European arts from the middle of the 18th cen tury,
became distinct in Poland about 1760. It was first manifested in archaeological interests,
which in time extended to collecting. At that time there were imports of 17th- and
18th-century engraved publications, which illustrated Roman antiąuities, particularly the
excavations at Herculaneum and Pompeii. Many libraries had large sets of Giambattista
Warsaw, Royal Castle, draft design for reconstruction and novel shaping of the Castle sąuare, E. Szreger, 1777
11
perhaps the most interesting example of how the neoclassical style took shape in Poland at the
beginning of the Age of Enlightenment.
In 1761, Szreger began the reconstruction of Gniezno Cathedral, following a great fire. This
reconstruction was expected to include the plastering of the faęade and towers, “reforming”
of the cornices and the most beautiful decoration of the faęade and towers, “to the taste of the
contemporary age”. In 1766 work was finishedon the construction of the great altar, designed
by Szreger, with marbled columnar architecture, which was distinctly neoclassical. In the
early sixties, Szreger gave neoclassical features to still another building, the pałace at
Skierniewice, which was rebuilt, at the order of Primate Łubieński, between 1761-1765.
The designs of Coustou and Szreger mentioned above indicate that it would be wrong to
identify the beginnings of neoclassicism in Poland, as some scholars have done, with the
accession to the throne of King Stanislas Augustus Poniatowski, despite his enormous role in
the formation of Polish neoclassical art.
Everything that in 1760-1780 showed symptoms of a new taste in the arts, constituting a new
stage in artistic evolution, all that indicated interest in the new views and arose under royal,
magnate, gentry, burgher or ecclesiastic patronage, should justly be included in the artistic
culture of the Age of Enlightenment in Poland, and - whether it showed signs of the
antiąuating, Palladian or neoclassical trends from the Renaissance, the 17th or 18th centuries
- be called early neoclassical art. These trends of the Enlightenment art came about
1760-1780.
The interest in ancient art and artistic culture, which was so important a factor in the process
of the formation of neoclassical trends in European arts from the middle of the 18th cen tury,
became distinct in Poland about 1760. It was first manifested in archaeological interests,
which in time extended to collecting. At that time there were imports of 17th- and
18th-century engraved publications, which illustrated Roman antiąuities, particularly the
excavations at Herculaneum and Pompeii. Many libraries had large sets of Giambattista
Warsaw, Royal Castle, draft design for reconstruction and novel shaping of the Castle sąuare, E. Szreger, 1777
11