Modus: Prace z historii sztuki (20.2020)

8. Wrocław, Dominican
church, tracery decoration
of a window in the transept.
Photo by Justyna Kamińska
->see p. 14

9. Wrocław, Dominican
church, reconstruction
of the longitudinal section
of the tempie from the sec-
ond half of the I3th century.
Photo after: E. Małacho-
wicz, Architektura zakonu
dominikanów na Ślqsku,
in: Z dziejów sztuki śląskiej,
Z. Świechowski (ed.), War-
szawa 1978, p. 119, fig. 9
->see p. 14
10. Poznań, post-Domini-
can church, foundations
for the rood screen. Photo
after: W. Gałka, O architek-
turze i plastyce dawnego
Poznania do końca epoki
baroku, Poznań 2001, p. 58,
fig- 65
->see p. 15

Before the Poznań Friars Minor started building the chancel, the rectangu-
lar choir of the Dominican church in Wrocław, believed to predate 1241, had
already been completed. In reconstruction, it is modelled as a brick, three-
-span, vaulted interior with internal dimensions of 25.2 x 7.1 m and the height
of 10-12 m.53 It seems feasible that the Wrocław choir could have become
a model for the solution applied in Poznań, although, unfortunately, the łąck
of preserved traces of vault supports, keystones or details enabling the recon-
struction of the appearance of the Windows of the Wrocław chancel does not
allow for a deeper comparative analysis. Further, the slightly later (dating back
to the 1260S)54 minimalist and elegant tracery in the Windows of the churchs
transept in Wrocław, consisting of two lancets with a single ring above them,
are shaped similarly to the one in Poznań (see: Fig. 8)55. It is likely that the other
Windows of the nave of the church in Wrocław (perhaps madę in the 1250S)
looked similar (see: Fig. 9). Both in Poznań and Wrocław, the Windows of the
nave were distinguished from the others by the application of brick rather than
stone elements in their frames.
The eastern span of the nave of the Poznań building was erected simultaneous-
ly with the chancel. This is evidenced by the relic of the panel on the faęade
of the rood wali, similar to those partially madę on the faęade of the chancel,
by the symmetrical arrangement of this span towards the chancel, as well as
by the Southern buttress clearly separating it from the rest of the nave.56 This
bay is much shorter than the others - it is only 2.85 m long inside - due to
the massive rood wali enclosing it from the east. The window in the Southern
wali of the bay has no counterpart in the northern side; it is narrower and
installed higher than the other Windows within the church nave.57 The bay in
question was functionally connected with the choir, because a rood screen was
planned within it. The use of choir partitions had been directed by the Orders
authorities from 1249 onwards, but their presence in the Mendicant churches
was confirmed even before that datę.58 Based on the appearance of surviving
relics of the foundation footings discovered during the excavations (see: Fig. 10),
it can be assumed that the planned rood screen was to be tripartite, with a pas-
sage in the central span communicating the nave with the choir, and probably
with stairs located on the side of the chancel, leading to the upper floor, perhaps
similar to the rood screen of the Dominican church in Płock, reconstructed by
Marcin Szyma.59 Its height could have reached the bottom edge of the window.

53 E. Małachowicz, Architektura zakonu dominikanów na Śląsku, in: Z dziejów sztuki śląskiej, Z. Świe-
chowski (ed.), Warszawa 1978, pp. 102-104; J. Adamski, Gotycka architektura, pp. 96-99.

54 J. Adamski, Gotycka architektura, p. 104.

55 E. Linette, Wczesnogotycki wystrój, p. 352.

56 Determining whether the walls of the chancel and the nave are tied is impossible due to
the plastering inside and the effects of the twentieth-century renovation of the external faęades,
as a result of which the brick arrangements have become practically illegible.

57 Eugeniusz Linette believed that initially also the Southern wali of the bay had no window, see:
E. Linette, Zabytek wczesnogotyckiego budownictwa, p. 470.

58 R.A. Sundt, “Mediocres domos et humiles habeant fratres nostri.” Dominican Legislation on Archi-
tecture and Architectural Decoration in the 13“’ Century,“Journal of the Society of Architectural
Historians”, 46,1987, no. 4, pp. 394-407; W. Schenkluhn, Architektur der Bettelorden. Die Baukunst
der Dominikaner und Franziskaner in Europa, Darmstadt 2000, pp. 81-83.

59 M. Szyma, Architektura sakralna Płocka w xiii w. - kolegiata św. Michała i kościół św. Dominika,
in: Płock wczesnośredniowieczny, A. Gołembnik (ed.), Warszawa 2011, p. 302.

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Justyna Kamińska