DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.25050#0178
and cramming it with an opulent set of black marble altars, portals
and epitaphs. The highpoint here is the altar housing a late
fourteenth-century crucifix of Queen Hedwig’s, an object of
fervent worship.
The entire Cathedral is surrounded by a circuit of chapels,
founded by members of the ruling dynasties, bishops and power-
ful magnate families as places of eternal rest. The founding of
a chapel was not only an artistic and building project, but also
a complex legal act involving the regulation of property owner-
ship, the schedule of liturgical services and benefices for the
clergy. The first chapels date from the fourteenth century but only
a few retain their original Gothic aspect. The oldest chapel, first
dedicated to St Margaret, began the construction of the entire
Gothic cathedral. It now serves as a sacristy and a passageway to
the Treasury and to the Sigismund Tower. An important role in
the layout of the church and in liturgy is played by Our Lady’s
Chapel adjoining the ambulatory, which houses the tomb of King
Stephen Bathory.
From the west, the Cathedral is abutted by the Late Gothic
Jagiellonian chapels, hiding the lower part of the fa$ade from
view. The interior of the one located at the continuation of the
northern aisle, founded by Queen Sophia from 1431 to 1432 and
dedicated to the Holy Trinity, has been extensively redecorated. In
contrast, the Holy Cross Chapel, built in the third quarter of the
fifteenth century as a mausoleum for the royal couple Casimir
Jagiellon and Elisabeth Hapsburg, virtually retained its original
character, including the painted decoration of the walls and the
Vault, executed in a late Byzantine style by artists brought from
Ruthenia. Commissioning of paintings of this type, with only
three other examples to be found in Poland (Lublin, Sandomierz
and Wislica), attests to the admiration the Jagiellonian dynasty
had for Orthodox culture, deeply rooted in the territory of the
*4- Tomb of Casimir the Great, after 1370
and epitaphs. The highpoint here is the altar housing a late
fourteenth-century crucifix of Queen Hedwig’s, an object of
fervent worship.
The entire Cathedral is surrounded by a circuit of chapels,
founded by members of the ruling dynasties, bishops and power-
ful magnate families as places of eternal rest. The founding of
a chapel was not only an artistic and building project, but also
a complex legal act involving the regulation of property owner-
ship, the schedule of liturgical services and benefices for the
clergy. The first chapels date from the fourteenth century but only
a few retain their original Gothic aspect. The oldest chapel, first
dedicated to St Margaret, began the construction of the entire
Gothic cathedral. It now serves as a sacristy and a passageway to
the Treasury and to the Sigismund Tower. An important role in
the layout of the church and in liturgy is played by Our Lady’s
Chapel adjoining the ambulatory, which houses the tomb of King
Stephen Bathory.
From the west, the Cathedral is abutted by the Late Gothic
Jagiellonian chapels, hiding the lower part of the fa$ade from
view. The interior of the one located at the continuation of the
northern aisle, founded by Queen Sophia from 1431 to 1432 and
dedicated to the Holy Trinity, has been extensively redecorated. In
contrast, the Holy Cross Chapel, built in the third quarter of the
fifteenth century as a mausoleum for the royal couple Casimir
Jagiellon and Elisabeth Hapsburg, virtually retained its original
character, including the painted decoration of the walls and the
Vault, executed in a late Byzantine style by artists brought from
Ruthenia. Commissioning of paintings of this type, with only
three other examples to be found in Poland (Lublin, Sandomierz
and Wislica), attests to the admiration the Jagiellonian dynasty
had for Orthodox culture, deeply rooted in the territory of the
*4- Tomb of Casimir the Great, after 1370