DOI article:
Adamski, Jakub: An allusion to a cathedral in a rural foundation: on the iconography of the architecture of the sixteenth-century parish church in Brochów
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51757#0009
Rocznik Historii Sztuki, tom XLIV
PAN, 2019
DOI 10.24425/rhs.2019.131197
JAKUB ADAMSKI
UNIVERSITY OF WARSAW
AN ALLUSION TO A CATHEDRAL IN A RURAL FOUNDATION?
ON THE ICONOGRAPHY OF THE ARCHITECTURE
OF THE SIXTEENTH-CENTURY PARISH CHURCH IN BROCHÓW*
The history of the medieval and early-modern architecture rarely witnessed a rural parish church -
one that would not be not a pilgrimage centre - assume an intricate architectural form intended to convey
a complex meaning. Yet when this happened, it indicated that the given site was of utmost importance to
the local community, and above all to the wealthy founders of that church. The parish church of Saints
John the Baptist and Roch in Brochów near Sochaczew, once an ancient family seat of a knightly (and
later noble) Brochowski family of the Prawdzie coat of arms, is one of those unusual structures, endowed
with a complex spatial programme and therefore prompting interpretations in the spheres of symbols and
ideas. Picturesquely situated in the Mazovian landscape in the Bzura River wetlands, it is most widely
known as the place where Frederic Chopin had been baptised. From the point of art historiography,
however, the importance of this three-towered, castellated basilica arises from its belonging to a cohesive
group of Mazovian churches from the middle of the 16th century, which were designed by the Italian
architect Giovanni Battista Venetus and which are still medieval in their outward forms but conceal
entirely Renaissance interiors.* 1
So far, none of the monographic studies has satisfactorily explained the complexity of the Brochów
church’s structure.2 However, since the 19th century the church has been a focus of scholarly interest,
* The current article was written as part of the National Science Centre research grant conducted under my supervision (OPUS 11;
DEC-2016/21/B/HS2/00598). The text was translated by Klaudyna Michałowicz, to whom I express my gratitude.
1 On the activity of Giovanni Battista, see esp. R. Kunkel, Jan Baptysta Wenecjanin, budowniczy i obywatel płocki, “Biuletyn
Historii Sztuki”, 45, 1983, pp. 25-46.
2 Fundamental literature: J. Łukaszewicz, Krótki opis historyczny kościołów parochialnych, kościółków, kaplic, klasztorów,
szkółek parochialnych, szpitali i innych zakładów dobroczynnych w dawnej dyecezyi poznańskiej, vol. 3, Poznań 1863, pp. 300—301;
A. Szyszko-Bohusz, Warowne zabytki architektury kościelnej w Polsce i na Litwie. Ptkanów - Brochów - Małomeżejków - Synkowicze
-Supraśl - Wilno, “Sprawozdania Komisyi do Badania Historyi Sztuki w Polsce”, 9, 1915, col. 332-342; Z. Rokowski, Obronny kościół
w Brochowie i jego odbudowa, “Ochrona Zabytków”, 1, 1930/1931, pp. 103-113; J. Chyczewski, Kollegjata pułtuska na tle kościelnego
budownictwa mazowieckiego XV i XVI wieku, Warsaw 1936, pp. 36M2; M. Lewicka, Problematyka badań architektury renesansowej
na Mazowszu, “Biuletyn Historii Sztuki”, 25, 1963, pp. 132-133; Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, vol. 10, Województwo warszawskie,
fase. 24, Powiat sochaczewski, opracowały I. Galicka, H. Sygietyńska, Warsaw 1973 [hereinafter: KZSzP - Sochaczew], pp. IV-V, 1-6;
Kunkel, Jan Baptysta..., pp. 29-30; J. Łoziński, Pomniki sztuki w Polsce, vol. 3, Mazowsze i Podlasie, Warsaw 1999, pp. 395-396;
Architektura gotycka w Polsce, ed. T. Mroczko, M. Arszyński, part 2, Katalog zabytków, ed. A. Włodarek, Warsaw 1995 (Dzieje Sztuki
Polskiej, vol. 2), pp. 33-34 [note by I. Galicka]; A. Miłobędzki, Pułtuski ,,system architektoniczny”, [in:] Nobile claret opus. Studia
z dziejów sztuki dedykowane Mieczysławowi Zlatowi, ed. L. Kalinowski, S. Mossakowski, Z. Ostrowska-Kębłowska, Wrocław 1998,
pp. 239-242; R. Kunkel, Architektura gotycka na Mazowszu, Warsaw 2006, pp. 191-194; J. Żmudziński, Brochów, miejsce chrztu
Fryderyka Chopina, Cracow 2010; P. Gryglewski, De sacra antiquitate. Odwołania do przeszłości w polskiej architekturze sakralnej
XVI wieku, Warsaw 2012, pp. 225-228; C. Herrmann, Masowien, [in:] Mittelalterliche Architektur in Polen. Romanische und gotische
Baukunst zwischen Oder und Weichsel, Hrsg. D. von Winterfeld, C. Herrmann, Bd. 1, Petersberg 2015, p. 534.
PAN, 2019
DOI 10.24425/rhs.2019.131197
JAKUB ADAMSKI
UNIVERSITY OF WARSAW
AN ALLUSION TO A CATHEDRAL IN A RURAL FOUNDATION?
ON THE ICONOGRAPHY OF THE ARCHITECTURE
OF THE SIXTEENTH-CENTURY PARISH CHURCH IN BROCHÓW*
The history of the medieval and early-modern architecture rarely witnessed a rural parish church -
one that would not be not a pilgrimage centre - assume an intricate architectural form intended to convey
a complex meaning. Yet when this happened, it indicated that the given site was of utmost importance to
the local community, and above all to the wealthy founders of that church. The parish church of Saints
John the Baptist and Roch in Brochów near Sochaczew, once an ancient family seat of a knightly (and
later noble) Brochowski family of the Prawdzie coat of arms, is one of those unusual structures, endowed
with a complex spatial programme and therefore prompting interpretations in the spheres of symbols and
ideas. Picturesquely situated in the Mazovian landscape in the Bzura River wetlands, it is most widely
known as the place where Frederic Chopin had been baptised. From the point of art historiography,
however, the importance of this three-towered, castellated basilica arises from its belonging to a cohesive
group of Mazovian churches from the middle of the 16th century, which were designed by the Italian
architect Giovanni Battista Venetus and which are still medieval in their outward forms but conceal
entirely Renaissance interiors.* 1
So far, none of the monographic studies has satisfactorily explained the complexity of the Brochów
church’s structure.2 However, since the 19th century the church has been a focus of scholarly interest,
* The current article was written as part of the National Science Centre research grant conducted under my supervision (OPUS 11;
DEC-2016/21/B/HS2/00598). The text was translated by Klaudyna Michałowicz, to whom I express my gratitude.
1 On the activity of Giovanni Battista, see esp. R. Kunkel, Jan Baptysta Wenecjanin, budowniczy i obywatel płocki, “Biuletyn
Historii Sztuki”, 45, 1983, pp. 25-46.
2 Fundamental literature: J. Łukaszewicz, Krótki opis historyczny kościołów parochialnych, kościółków, kaplic, klasztorów,
szkółek parochialnych, szpitali i innych zakładów dobroczynnych w dawnej dyecezyi poznańskiej, vol. 3, Poznań 1863, pp. 300—301;
A. Szyszko-Bohusz, Warowne zabytki architektury kościelnej w Polsce i na Litwie. Ptkanów - Brochów - Małomeżejków - Synkowicze
-Supraśl - Wilno, “Sprawozdania Komisyi do Badania Historyi Sztuki w Polsce”, 9, 1915, col. 332-342; Z. Rokowski, Obronny kościół
w Brochowie i jego odbudowa, “Ochrona Zabytków”, 1, 1930/1931, pp. 103-113; J. Chyczewski, Kollegjata pułtuska na tle kościelnego
budownictwa mazowieckiego XV i XVI wieku, Warsaw 1936, pp. 36M2; M. Lewicka, Problematyka badań architektury renesansowej
na Mazowszu, “Biuletyn Historii Sztuki”, 25, 1963, pp. 132-133; Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, vol. 10, Województwo warszawskie,
fase. 24, Powiat sochaczewski, opracowały I. Galicka, H. Sygietyńska, Warsaw 1973 [hereinafter: KZSzP - Sochaczew], pp. IV-V, 1-6;
Kunkel, Jan Baptysta..., pp. 29-30; J. Łoziński, Pomniki sztuki w Polsce, vol. 3, Mazowsze i Podlasie, Warsaw 1999, pp. 395-396;
Architektura gotycka w Polsce, ed. T. Mroczko, M. Arszyński, part 2, Katalog zabytków, ed. A. Włodarek, Warsaw 1995 (Dzieje Sztuki
Polskiej, vol. 2), pp. 33-34 [note by I. Galicka]; A. Miłobędzki, Pułtuski ,,system architektoniczny”, [in:] Nobile claret opus. Studia
z dziejów sztuki dedykowane Mieczysławowi Zlatowi, ed. L. Kalinowski, S. Mossakowski, Z. Ostrowska-Kębłowska, Wrocław 1998,
pp. 239-242; R. Kunkel, Architektura gotycka na Mazowszu, Warsaw 2006, pp. 191-194; J. Żmudziński, Brochów, miejsce chrztu
Fryderyka Chopina, Cracow 2010; P. Gryglewski, De sacra antiquitate. Odwołania do przeszłości w polskiej architekturze sakralnej
XVI wieku, Warsaw 2012, pp. 225-228; C. Herrmann, Masowien, [in:] Mittelalterliche Architektur in Polen. Romanische und gotische
Baukunst zwischen Oder und Weichsel, Hrsg. D. von Winterfeld, C. Herrmann, Bd. 1, Petersberg 2015, p. 534.