Modus: Prace z historii sztuki (18.2018)

17. Kraków cathedral,
corbel on the northern wali
of the choir.
Photo by Piotr Pajor.
-> see p. 17

not to mention the similarity of rib abutments in both churches. One significant
difference between the details of the choirs in both churches is the shape of their
lower parts: in Stary Sącz, these have the form of an inverted pyramid, whereas
in Kraków, they are funnel-shaped (see: Fig. 17). In both structures, however, we
find a number of characteristic details - the surroundings of arcades cut in the
upper part of the brackets with fiat frames, capturing the front of the arches, and
rectangular fields around them, as well as the shape of the nosing moulds filling the
arcades, reminiscent of the folded surface of miniaturę niches. Therefore, I think
that we should reconsider the thesis, perhaps prematurely rejected by Pencakowski,
that the church in Stary Sącz might have been executed by the craftsmen from the
workshop of the Kraków cathedral choir. In the face of simultaneous implementa-
tion of both projects, the possibility of the entire workshop working on both com-
missions should of course be excluded, but it seems very likely that at least some
of the stonemasons employed at the construction of the cathedral also arrived in
Stary Sącz. On the other hand, it is difficult to imagine that two separate groups of
stonemasons came to Lesser Poland around 1320, independently imported from
the same distant lands. The thesis that only some members of the cathedral work-
shop participated in the construction in Stary Sącz is probably also supported by
the purely architectural character of the decoration (whereas in the eastern part of
the cathedral, figural sculpture was used), as well as a relatively smali number of
decorative elements. If the conclusion were correct, this would allow us to specify
the starting moment in the construction of the church - which in that case could
not have taken place before 1320, when the cathedral was begun. This would mean
that the church was created in no morę than twelve years, which seems possible,
although it would indicate a fairly rapid pace of work.
The fact of deploying stonemasons from the Kraków cathedrals workshop to
Stary Sącz, including the participation in the project of the master-stonemason
capable of designing a sophisticated tracery of the window of the tribune, also
seems to be confirmed by Łuszczkiewicz and Crossley, madę morę probable by the
patronage of the royal couple, without whom the Poor Clare nuns would probably
find it difficult to obtain access to the artists who had worked at Wawel.50 It should
be stressed, moreover, that the relationship between Władysław the Short and Jad-
wiga, and the monastery in Stary Sącz, was deep and broad, even if only because
of blood ties - Jadwiga, the daughter of Bolesław the Chaste and Jolenta, was the
niece of the saintly founder of the convent.51 The queen herself, after the death of
nr 7), p. 492, fig. 240, 8 map, “Folia Historiae Artium”, 23, 1987, pp. 165-174; idem, Gotyckie
bazyliki Krakowa, Kraków 1993, p. 33; idem, Małopolska i ziemie Ruskie Korony, in: Architektura
gotycka w Polsce, vol. 1, T. Mroczko, M. Arszyński (eds.), Warszawa 1995, pp. 68-69; J- Adamski,
Rola Strasburga i Górnej Nadrenii w rozwoju xiv-wiecznej architektury sakralnej w Polsce i na
Śląsku, in: Średniowieczna architektura sakralna w Polsce w świetle najnowszych badań. Mate-
riały z sesji naukowej zorganizowanej przez Muzeum Początków Państwa Potskiego w Gnieźnie
13-15 listopada 2013 roku, T. Janiak, D. Stryniak (eds.), Gniezno 2014, pp. 219-222; idem, Biskupi
Nanker i Jan Grot.
50 W. Łuszczkiewicz, Architektura najdawniejszych kościołów, p. 175; P. Crossley, Gothic Architecture,
p. 88.
51 Incidentally, one morę family connection between Jadwiga and the monastery should be noted,
suggested by Żywot św. Kingi (“The Life of Saint Kinga”) (pp. 77 and 154), which speaks about
sister Annę, who was a princess (“soror Anna Ducella”), and who once noticed the veil of Kin-
ga - then absorbed in prayer - catching fire from the candle. The publisher of Żywot, Bolesław

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Piotr Pajor