DOI Artikel:
Prix, Dalibor: Asymetryczne sklepienia na Ślas̜ku w XIV wieku
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.34225#0028
22
DAHBOR PRiX
ASYMMETRJC VAULTS !N FOURTEENTH CENTURY SILESIA
Abstract
A few extraordinary exampies of vauits with asymmetricai arrangements of ribs appeared in 1370s Silesia. They were used in
fairiy reguiariy pianned spaces, which aiiowed the use of vauits with a symmetricai composition. The most interesting exampte in this
group is the vauit in the rectanguiar councii meeting hali in Namysiow's City Hail. Namyslow's City Haii was buiit from i374-1378
by an unknown buiider, the so-caiied Master Peter. His identification with Wrociaw's (Bresiau) master buiider Peter, caiied Rote. from
Haiie, as suggested by Kurt Bimier, remains hypothetical thus far. In 1378 Master Peter erected in the City Haii one of the most beau-
tifui and probabiy the oidest preserved irreguiar vauits, ingeniousiy constructed from three-rayed ribs, with an added singie rib in the
south-westem comer. This rib and the adjoining trianguiar vauit ceii compieteiy dismpt the reguiarity of the vauit's arrangement. This
exampie from Namyslów was soon to be recreated with minor variations around 1400 (before 1413) in the council chamber of the City
Haii of another Siiesian town - Środa Śiąska. it is not known who the maker of this vauit was. Some researchers, in particular Danuta
Hanuianka and Malgorzata Niemczyk, have also dated another asymmetricai vauit in the rectanguiar chapei of St. Anne in the parish
church of Namysłów to the iast quarter of the fourteenth century. Hanuianka aiso hypothesises that this vauit is iinked with the activity
of Master Peter. Yet the construction of the church in Namysłów started oniy aAer 1405, and the chapei of St. Anne was estabiished
even iater. at the eariiest c. 1425, and so the vault cannot be considered one of the oldest asymmetric vauits dating Aom the iate four-
teenth century. Between the years 139i-1393, an anonymous architect deveioped a project to rebuiid a merchant house and the town
haii in Toruń. Prussia. !n the iatter, we have two rectanguiar rooms with vauited ceiiings showing an irreguiar pattem of ribs. Except
for the asymmetry, the vauits in Toruń show no ciose simiiarities with the vauits in Namysłów or Środa Śląska. They were considered
very unusuai in iate fourteenth century Baitic countries, and it is impossibie to And any iocai archetypes for them. The concept of the
vauit in Namysłów by Master Peter bears some simiiarities to vauits in the side aisies of Corpus Christi Church in Wroclaw, dated to
1360-1367. The vauits in the church in Wroclaw cannot, however, be considered compieteiy asymmetricai - an axis of symmetry from
north to south can be traced across each of the aisies. During the next phase of the church's construction. aAer 1390, the side aisies of
the choir were erected with vauits which were given a compieteiy irreguiar composition. The oidest known vault with an irregular pattem
of ribs, which unfortunateiy has not survived, seems to be the vauit that was destroyed in the mid-AAeenth century in the former chapei
of St. Lawrence, St. Agnes and St. Margaret (now St. Anne) in the parish church of Our Lady in Opawa. The chapei was buiit Aom
1372-1373; it was endowed in 1373-1374 by a rich merchant Aom Opawa caiied Reynczko, who was iater a counciiior in that town.
Intentionaiiy irreguiar vauits in reiativeiy reguiar spaces were a rarity in the fourteenth century. Their unusuainess stands out even
more if we reaiize that the most important Centrai European architecturai centres were dominated at the time by a compieteiy opposite
trend. The architects working at the court of the King of Bohemia and Germany, Wenceslas IV of Luxembourg, strove to achieve maxi-
mum geometric harmony in their vauits. !n the Coiumn Hali of Prague Castie in the eariy !380s, the symmetricai vauit was meant to
disguise the irreguiar fioor plan. In the Czech castie Krakovec. buiit in 1381-1384 by George of Rostock, King Wencesias's adviser and
courtier, vauits of regular and harmonious composition dominate the irreguiar projection of the chapei and other rooms. This striving for
geometric perfection ied to the use of a compieteiy reguiar composition of the steiiar vauit in the irregular nave of the royai chapei in
the itaiian Court in Kutna Hora. built from )386-i389. The same principies inAuenced the vauit in the so-caiied Hali of Jadwiga and
Jagieiio. in the Danish Tower of the royai castie on Wawel Hiii in Kraków. buiit Aom 1386-1399.
Therefore, Siiesian irregular vauits from the 1370s go against the common at that time trend of using perfectiy harmonious vauits
in order to correct the imperfections of ftoor plans. The reason for this particuiar disparity has not yet been eiucidated. One can oniy
conclude that the appearance of these speciAc quirks, these ancient Siiesian asymmetric vauits, predated by aimost a hundred years the
deveiopment of simiiar vauits in other parts of continentai Europe.
(trans. Katarzyna Krzyżagórska-Pisarek)
DAHBOR PRiX
ASYMMETRJC VAULTS !N FOURTEENTH CENTURY SILESIA
Abstract
A few extraordinary exampies of vauits with asymmetricai arrangements of ribs appeared in 1370s Silesia. They were used in
fairiy reguiariy pianned spaces, which aiiowed the use of vauits with a symmetricai composition. The most interesting exampte in this
group is the vauit in the rectanguiar councii meeting hali in Namysiow's City Hail. Namyslow's City Haii was buiit from i374-1378
by an unknown buiider, the so-caiied Master Peter. His identification with Wrociaw's (Bresiau) master buiider Peter, caiied Rote. from
Haiie, as suggested by Kurt Bimier, remains hypothetical thus far. In 1378 Master Peter erected in the City Haii one of the most beau-
tifui and probabiy the oidest preserved irreguiar vauits, ingeniousiy constructed from three-rayed ribs, with an added singie rib in the
south-westem comer. This rib and the adjoining trianguiar vauit ceii compieteiy dismpt the reguiarity of the vauit's arrangement. This
exampie from Namyslów was soon to be recreated with minor variations around 1400 (before 1413) in the council chamber of the City
Haii of another Siiesian town - Środa Śiąska. it is not known who the maker of this vauit was. Some researchers, in particular Danuta
Hanuianka and Malgorzata Niemczyk, have also dated another asymmetricai vauit in the rectanguiar chapei of St. Anne in the parish
church of Namysłów to the iast quarter of the fourteenth century. Hanuianka aiso hypothesises that this vauit is iinked with the activity
of Master Peter. Yet the construction of the church in Namysłów started oniy aAer 1405, and the chapei of St. Anne was estabiished
even iater. at the eariiest c. 1425, and so the vault cannot be considered one of the oldest asymmetric vauits dating Aom the iate four-
teenth century. Between the years 139i-1393, an anonymous architect deveioped a project to rebuiid a merchant house and the town
haii in Toruń. Prussia. !n the iatter, we have two rectanguiar rooms with vauited ceiiings showing an irreguiar pattem of ribs. Except
for the asymmetry, the vauits in Toruń show no ciose simiiarities with the vauits in Namysłów or Środa Śląska. They were considered
very unusuai in iate fourteenth century Baitic countries, and it is impossibie to And any iocai archetypes for them. The concept of the
vauit in Namysłów by Master Peter bears some simiiarities to vauits in the side aisies of Corpus Christi Church in Wroclaw, dated to
1360-1367. The vauits in the church in Wroclaw cannot, however, be considered compieteiy asymmetricai - an axis of symmetry from
north to south can be traced across each of the aisies. During the next phase of the church's construction. aAer 1390, the side aisies of
the choir were erected with vauits which were given a compieteiy irreguiar composition. The oidest known vault with an irregular pattem
of ribs, which unfortunateiy has not survived, seems to be the vauit that was destroyed in the mid-AAeenth century in the former chapei
of St. Lawrence, St. Agnes and St. Margaret (now St. Anne) in the parish church of Our Lady in Opawa. The chapei was buiit Aom
1372-1373; it was endowed in 1373-1374 by a rich merchant Aom Opawa caiied Reynczko, who was iater a counciiior in that town.
Intentionaiiy irreguiar vauits in reiativeiy reguiar spaces were a rarity in the fourteenth century. Their unusuainess stands out even
more if we reaiize that the most important Centrai European architecturai centres were dominated at the time by a compieteiy opposite
trend. The architects working at the court of the King of Bohemia and Germany, Wenceslas IV of Luxembourg, strove to achieve maxi-
mum geometric harmony in their vauits. !n the Coiumn Hali of Prague Castie in the eariy !380s, the symmetricai vauit was meant to
disguise the irreguiar fioor plan. In the Czech castie Krakovec. buiit in 1381-1384 by George of Rostock, King Wencesias's adviser and
courtier, vauits of regular and harmonious composition dominate the irreguiar projection of the chapei and other rooms. This striving for
geometric perfection ied to the use of a compieteiy reguiar composition of the steiiar vauit in the irregular nave of the royai chapei in
the itaiian Court in Kutna Hora. built from )386-i389. The same principies inAuenced the vauit in the so-caiied Hali of Jadwiga and
Jagieiio. in the Danish Tower of the royai castie on Wawel Hiii in Kraków. buiit Aom 1386-1399.
Therefore, Siiesian irregular vauits from the 1370s go against the common at that time trend of using perfectiy harmonious vauits
in order to correct the imperfections of ftoor plans. The reason for this particuiar disparity has not yet been eiucidated. One can oniy
conclude that the appearance of these speciAc quirks, these ancient Siiesian asymmetric vauits, predated by aimost a hundred years the
deveiopment of simiiar vauits in other parts of continentai Europe.
(trans. Katarzyna Krzyżagórska-Pisarek)