DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.25050#0191
century architecture is the Bishop Jakub Zadzik’s Chapel, attri-
buted to Sebastian Sala. A magnificent Late Baroque piece of
architecture is the Lipski Chapel adjacent to the north arm
of the ambulatory, rebuilt by Francesco Placidi in 1743—1746.
Almost entirely clad in black marble, it has a small presbytery,
with mysterious light descending on the altar from the hidden
windows. A still later phase of Baroque is represented by Bishop
Zaluski’s Chapel, with a Rococo interior and a picturesque dome.
If the burial chapels give an outstanding review of stylistic
tendencies in architecture, the many funerary monuments make
the Cathedral a veritable museum of sculpture. As mentioned
many times, the Cracow Cathedral was the burial place of rulers
and their family members, local bishops and other ecclesiastical
and state dignitaries. Four magnificent royal monuments survive
from the Gothic period: of Ladislaus the Short (the second quarter
of the fourteenth century), Casimir the Great (after 1370), Ladis-
laus Jagiello (the second quarter of the fifteenth century) and
Casimir Jagiellon (1492), representing stylistic stages from the
quiet, slightly squat forms characteristic of the fourteenth century
to the expressionistic and restless manner of Stoss. All the tombs
are similar in composition. Their core is the figure of the deceased,
resting on an angular sarcophagus with walls decorated by scenes
of subjects mourning the loss of their ruler. The royal aspect of the
monuments is highlighted by the baldachins spanning above (the
baldachin topping Jagiello’s tomb was extended by Giovanni Cini
in 1519—1524, and Ladislaus the Short’s canopy is a neo-Gothic
work by Odrzywolski).
At the turn of the sixteenth century, appeared in Cracow
a fashion for bronze tomb slabs, usually imported from the famous
Vischer workshop in Nuremberg. Among the slabs preserved in
the Cathedral, two are of note: the one commemorating Piotr
Kmita the Elder, with a beautiful representation of a knight
modelled after a Diirer’s composition; and the other on the tomb
of Cardinal Frederick Jagiellon, dated 1510, and including a scene
of presentation of the deceased to the Virgin by St Stanislaus.
184
buted to Sebastian Sala. A magnificent Late Baroque piece of
architecture is the Lipski Chapel adjacent to the north arm
of the ambulatory, rebuilt by Francesco Placidi in 1743—1746.
Almost entirely clad in black marble, it has a small presbytery,
with mysterious light descending on the altar from the hidden
windows. A still later phase of Baroque is represented by Bishop
Zaluski’s Chapel, with a Rococo interior and a picturesque dome.
If the burial chapels give an outstanding review of stylistic
tendencies in architecture, the many funerary monuments make
the Cathedral a veritable museum of sculpture. As mentioned
many times, the Cracow Cathedral was the burial place of rulers
and their family members, local bishops and other ecclesiastical
and state dignitaries. Four magnificent royal monuments survive
from the Gothic period: of Ladislaus the Short (the second quarter
of the fourteenth century), Casimir the Great (after 1370), Ladis-
laus Jagiello (the second quarter of the fifteenth century) and
Casimir Jagiellon (1492), representing stylistic stages from the
quiet, slightly squat forms characteristic of the fourteenth century
to the expressionistic and restless manner of Stoss. All the tombs
are similar in composition. Their core is the figure of the deceased,
resting on an angular sarcophagus with walls decorated by scenes
of subjects mourning the loss of their ruler. The royal aspect of the
monuments is highlighted by the baldachins spanning above (the
baldachin topping Jagiello’s tomb was extended by Giovanni Cini
in 1519—1524, and Ladislaus the Short’s canopy is a neo-Gothic
work by Odrzywolski).
At the turn of the sixteenth century, appeared in Cracow
a fashion for bronze tomb slabs, usually imported from the famous
Vischer workshop in Nuremberg. Among the slabs preserved in
the Cathedral, two are of note: the one commemorating Piotr
Kmita the Elder, with a beautiful representation of a knight
modelled after a Diirer’s composition; and the other on the tomb
of Cardinal Frederick Jagiellon, dated 1510, and including a scene
of presentation of the deceased to the Virgin by St Stanislaus.
184