Modus: Prace z historii sztuki (6.2005)

top storey. According to Rappoport, it either was a separate defensive tower or is a relic
of a castle complex. He associated its erection with the construction of a large system of
fortifications in the Chełm district and in western Volhynia. Emphasis laid on the existence
of a sacred interior (chapel) in the upper part of the tower. as well as its form and a group
of formal analogies to it determine the view held by the second group of scholars who
ascribe a religious function to the layout. In Kutyłowska's opinion the tower functioned
as a stronghold and a place of worship. with a baptisteiy on the top storey. The Ukrainian
researchers I.R. Mogitić and R.I. Mogitić mamtain that the top storey of the tower was a
chapel within the layout built for defence and religious cult. A. Buko interprets the tower
together with the chapel as a homogeneous structure which was a Byzantine eremitical
monastery erected on the outskirts of Christian civilization for the purpose of controlling
the Christianization of the Russian state in the period of its establishment. In Dyba's
opinion this was a monastery in the form of a tower-pillar. referring to the idea of an
ascetic way of life as proposed by Simeon Stylites.

Depending on how the origins and function of the Stołpie tower are viewed. its dating
ranges from the 10th to 14th centuries. The political-territorial status and the function of the
donjon are the subject of a polemic between the Russian and Ukrainian scholars. who link
the layout with the Ruthenian cuhural circle. and some Polish researchers who maintain
that it was founded by someone from the circle of the Piast rulers. Two main concepts of
its formal-stylistic origins may be distinguished. They result chiefly from the dating of the
top storey of the tower and its inteipretation as a place of worship. Accordingly. at one pole
of the present state of research is a view about a fortified tower connected with a system
of defences and at the other the prevailing inteipretation which emphasizes the definitely
religious role of the tower and its immediate surroundings. Naturally, the defensive
character of the tower was also discussed in the context of the topography of the entire
region and historical fmdings on the history of the Chełm district. In the light of the studies
carried out thus far the room on the top storey of the tower performed diverse religious
functions from those of an oratory. monastic chapel, baptistery. and missionary building
to those of a ducal tempie and a Ruthenian-Byzantine hermitage. Attempts to indicate its
formal-stylistic origins are based above all on analysis of the upper storey and are limited
to placing the Stołpie tower in the group of the so-called „Volhynian-type" towers or
within the generał classification of centrally-planned structures with a religious function
sińce the Early Christian period. Problems with the clear-cut definition of the type of the
top-storey interior and with the reconstruction of its original form lead either to a firm
conviction that it is of Eastern (Ruthenian-Byzantine or Byzantine) origin or to emphasis
on its Early-Piast roots linked with Western civilization. These divergent fmdings underlay
the ongoing research project. The interdisciplinary character of investigations will pennit
a comparison of analyses of the architecture itself with the results of palaeogeological
examinations, the stratigraphy of the suiroundings of the tower. and analysis of the ceramic
materiał found during archaeological excavations. A fuli spectrum of investigations will
help to formulate conclusions and theses that will be the result of planned research and not
only intellectual speculations.

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