DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.25050#0206
fronted with columned loggias and with stairs leading to the
galleries. The entire building was crowned with a parapet, which
manifests the Mannerist proclivity for unusual effects of perspec-
tive in its long, little-differentiated line. The Cloth Hall parapet is
the oldest definitely dated example of this feature, so characteristic
of Polish architecture, and its particular form, a blind-arcade frieze
and a volute crowning, was widely imitated. It is almost certain
that the mascarons of the parapet were designed by Santi Gucci,
and Padovano had a hand in designing the loggias, but the
authorship of the entire reconstruction still remains an open
question.
The Cloth Hall was literally swamped by the surrounding
architecture. Along its eastern side stretched the massive building
of the “wealthy stalls”, the stalls of shoemakers and tanners
adjoined from the west, and the larger weighting house stood to
the south. The removal of these buildings in the nineteenth
century revealed the longer facades of the Cloth Hall, which
proved not very presentable architecturally, as old photographs
show. Since the Cloth Hall was an important public building,
restoration was necessary. The reconstruction project was carried
out from 1875 to 1879 by Tomasz Prylinski, with some contri-
bution from Matejko. The long facades were given neo-Gothic
arcades, with entry for the stores, now cut off from the inside hall.
Massive central projections were added, which was in a sense an
architectural necessity, but it destroyed the Mannerist effect of the
parapet. Decorative wooden stalls were introduced into the hall,
which became more picturesque, but the original proportions
were lost. Despite these reservations, Prylinski’s remodelling
indicates a highly developed architectural sensibility, as well as the
nineteenth-century bent towards Historicism. The completion of
the project coincided with the joth-anniversary celebrations of
Jozef Ignacy Kraszewski’s writings, and the freshly restored
rooms upstairs were turned over to the National Museum.
The functions of the Cloth Hall have not changed since the
end of the last century. The dark hall is still commercially busy.
199
galleries. The entire building was crowned with a parapet, which
manifests the Mannerist proclivity for unusual effects of perspec-
tive in its long, little-differentiated line. The Cloth Hall parapet is
the oldest definitely dated example of this feature, so characteristic
of Polish architecture, and its particular form, a blind-arcade frieze
and a volute crowning, was widely imitated. It is almost certain
that the mascarons of the parapet were designed by Santi Gucci,
and Padovano had a hand in designing the loggias, but the
authorship of the entire reconstruction still remains an open
question.
The Cloth Hall was literally swamped by the surrounding
architecture. Along its eastern side stretched the massive building
of the “wealthy stalls”, the stalls of shoemakers and tanners
adjoined from the west, and the larger weighting house stood to
the south. The removal of these buildings in the nineteenth
century revealed the longer facades of the Cloth Hall, which
proved not very presentable architecturally, as old photographs
show. Since the Cloth Hall was an important public building,
restoration was necessary. The reconstruction project was carried
out from 1875 to 1879 by Tomasz Prylinski, with some contri-
bution from Matejko. The long facades were given neo-Gothic
arcades, with entry for the stores, now cut off from the inside hall.
Massive central projections were added, which was in a sense an
architectural necessity, but it destroyed the Mannerist effect of the
parapet. Decorative wooden stalls were introduced into the hall,
which became more picturesque, but the original proportions
were lost. Despite these reservations, Prylinski’s remodelling
indicates a highly developed architectural sensibility, as well as the
nineteenth-century bent towards Historicism. The completion of
the project coincided with the joth-anniversary celebrations of
Jozef Ignacy Kraszewski’s writings, and the freshly restored
rooms upstairs were turned over to the National Museum.
The functions of the Cloth Hall have not changed since the
end of the last century. The dark hall is still commercially busy.
199