DOI Artikel:
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 Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51757#0010
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JAKUB ADAMSKI
with several researchers being intrigued by its many-towered, castle-like silhouette,3 by the elements of
a defensive programme evident in it, and by the very size of the structure, which is surprising in a locality
that has never been a town.4 It is not an exaggeration to say that it is en exceptional piece of architecture;
and its unique character has led some scholars to form rather surprising conclusions. Writing in 1880, the
authors of the Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego [A Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of
Poland] asserted that the church was built to resemble a mosque (sic!).5 They gave the correct date of its
completion, however - 1561 - whereas Adolf Szyszko-Bohusz confidently dated it to the 17th century.6
Zygmunt Rokowski, in turn, was of the opinion that this “half church, half small castle” had been built in
the mid-16th century but was destroyed by the Swedes in the following century and rebuilt in an entirely
new form which it still holds today.7
Those authors who assumed that the structure of the Brochów church cannot be understood correctly
without an accurate interpretation of its symbolic meaning - one that had certainly been determined by its
noble founder Jan Brochowski, the wojski (tribunus) of Warsaw - were right, this must be emphasized at
the very outset of the current analysis. The first to suggest this direction in the investigations was Izabella
Galicka,8 later supported by Robert Kunkel, who nevertheless voiced the overly harsh opinion that the
shape of the castellated church “must be reviewed in terms of a founder’s eccentricity”.9 More apposite are
the comments of two scholars: Jerzy Żmudziński, who said that “it may turn out, as it has often happened
in the history of architecture, that it [the Brochów church - J.A.] follows some exceptionally dignified
prototype that is nevertheless difficult to identify at the current moment”,10 and Piotr Gryglewski, who
pointed out that “one may wonder whether the church’s original shape did not arise from some not yet
fully identified historical inspirations”.11 The current article focuses on the latter of these points. Leaving
aside the study of the sources and character of Giovanni Battista Venetus’ style and of the so-called
“Pułtusk group” of Gothic/Renaissance churches associated with his workshop (including, among others,
the remodelled collegiate church in Pułtusk, parish churches in Płock, Brok, Głogowiec, Chruślin, Sobota
and Cieksyn, and the no longer extant church of St. George in Warsaw),12 I would like to examine the
Brochów church from the perspective of the iconography of architecture. My task is not made any easier
by the fact that no written sources that would explain the riddle of this edifice have survived; but even
a conjectural reconstruction of the messages encoded in the architecture of this church may help us to
understand of its extraordinary shape.
3 In its original form, the church was even more picturesque than it is now, since the southern tower was a little lower than
its northern counterpart and had a slightly narrower upper section (see Fig. 12). Unfortunately, in 1915 the front line passed near the
church and was greatly damaged during the German shelling. The vaults, the walls of the southern nave, the faęade with the western
towers and the upper section of the eastern tower were reduced to rubble. The church was rebuilt in 1924—1929 following the design
by Jarosław Wojciechowski and Tymoteusz Sawicki. It was reconstructed in a manner essentially faithful to the original, but certain
alterations were introduced to the faęade (a new portal, a simplified gable, towers crowns in a new shape). See Rokowski, op. cit.;
P. Dettloff, Odbudowa i restauracja zabytków architektury w Polsce w latach 1918-1939. Teoria i praktyka, Cracow 2006, pp. 163-165;
Żmudziński, op. cit., pp. 34—36, 42.
4 In 1667 King John Casimir, following the request of Olbracht Adrian Lasocki (1631—1693), owner of the Brochów estate from
1661, issued a town charter based on the Law of Magdeburg. The enterprise was, however, unsuccessful; see KZSzP - Sochaczew, p. 1.
5 Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, ed. F. Sulimierski, B. Chlebowski, W. Walewski,
vol. 1, Warsaw 1880, p. 359.
6 Szyszko-Bohusz, op. cit., col. 332.
7 Rokowski, op. cit., pp. 108-110.
8 I. Galicka, Z problemów gotyckiej architektury sakralnej na Mazowszu, “Biuletyn Historii Sztuki”, 49, 1987, p. 163.
9 Kunkel, Architektura gotycka..., p. 58.
10 Żmudziński, op. cit., p. 30. Żmudziński cautiously suggested that the two-towered faęade of the church may have been
intended to evoke the Temple of Jerusalem, whose main entrance was flanked by two pillars named Boaz and Jachin; he was, however,
aware that this issue was “difficult to settle conclusively”; see ibidem, p. 30, 42.
11 Gryglewski, op. cit., p. 227.
12 See Chyczewski, op. cit.', Lewicka, op. cit.', Miłobędzki, Pułtuski „system architektoniczny”...; Kunkel, Jan Baptysta...',
idem, Architektura gotycka ..., pp. 94—98.
JAKUB ADAMSKI
with several researchers being intrigued by its many-towered, castle-like silhouette,3 by the elements of
a defensive programme evident in it, and by the very size of the structure, which is surprising in a locality
that has never been a town.4 It is not an exaggeration to say that it is en exceptional piece of architecture;
and its unique character has led some scholars to form rather surprising conclusions. Writing in 1880, the
authors of the Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego [A Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of
Poland] asserted that the church was built to resemble a mosque (sic!).5 They gave the correct date of its
completion, however - 1561 - whereas Adolf Szyszko-Bohusz confidently dated it to the 17th century.6
Zygmunt Rokowski, in turn, was of the opinion that this “half church, half small castle” had been built in
the mid-16th century but was destroyed by the Swedes in the following century and rebuilt in an entirely
new form which it still holds today.7
Those authors who assumed that the structure of the Brochów church cannot be understood correctly
without an accurate interpretation of its symbolic meaning - one that had certainly been determined by its
noble founder Jan Brochowski, the wojski (tribunus) of Warsaw - were right, this must be emphasized at
the very outset of the current analysis. The first to suggest this direction in the investigations was Izabella
Galicka,8 later supported by Robert Kunkel, who nevertheless voiced the overly harsh opinion that the
shape of the castellated church “must be reviewed in terms of a founder’s eccentricity”.9 More apposite are
the comments of two scholars: Jerzy Żmudziński, who said that “it may turn out, as it has often happened
in the history of architecture, that it [the Brochów church - J.A.] follows some exceptionally dignified
prototype that is nevertheless difficult to identify at the current moment”,10 and Piotr Gryglewski, who
pointed out that “one may wonder whether the church’s original shape did not arise from some not yet
fully identified historical inspirations”.11 The current article focuses on the latter of these points. Leaving
aside the study of the sources and character of Giovanni Battista Venetus’ style and of the so-called
“Pułtusk group” of Gothic/Renaissance churches associated with his workshop (including, among others,
the remodelled collegiate church in Pułtusk, parish churches in Płock, Brok, Głogowiec, Chruślin, Sobota
and Cieksyn, and the no longer extant church of St. George in Warsaw),12 I would like to examine the
Brochów church from the perspective of the iconography of architecture. My task is not made any easier
by the fact that no written sources that would explain the riddle of this edifice have survived; but even
a conjectural reconstruction of the messages encoded in the architecture of this church may help us to
understand of its extraordinary shape.
3 In its original form, the church was even more picturesque than it is now, since the southern tower was a little lower than
its northern counterpart and had a slightly narrower upper section (see Fig. 12). Unfortunately, in 1915 the front line passed near the
church and was greatly damaged during the German shelling. The vaults, the walls of the southern nave, the faęade with the western
towers and the upper section of the eastern tower were reduced to rubble. The church was rebuilt in 1924—1929 following the design
by Jarosław Wojciechowski and Tymoteusz Sawicki. It was reconstructed in a manner essentially faithful to the original, but certain
alterations were introduced to the faęade (a new portal, a simplified gable, towers crowns in a new shape). See Rokowski, op. cit.;
P. Dettloff, Odbudowa i restauracja zabytków architektury w Polsce w latach 1918-1939. Teoria i praktyka, Cracow 2006, pp. 163-165;
Żmudziński, op. cit., pp. 34—36, 42.
4 In 1667 King John Casimir, following the request of Olbracht Adrian Lasocki (1631—1693), owner of the Brochów estate from
1661, issued a town charter based on the Law of Magdeburg. The enterprise was, however, unsuccessful; see KZSzP - Sochaczew, p. 1.
5 Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, ed. F. Sulimierski, B. Chlebowski, W. Walewski,
vol. 1, Warsaw 1880, p. 359.
6 Szyszko-Bohusz, op. cit., col. 332.
7 Rokowski, op. cit., pp. 108-110.
8 I. Galicka, Z problemów gotyckiej architektury sakralnej na Mazowszu, “Biuletyn Historii Sztuki”, 49, 1987, p. 163.
9 Kunkel, Architektura gotycka..., p. 58.
10 Żmudziński, op. cit., p. 30. Żmudziński cautiously suggested that the two-towered faęade of the church may have been
intended to evoke the Temple of Jerusalem, whose main entrance was flanked by two pillars named Boaz and Jachin; he was, however,
aware that this issue was “difficult to settle conclusively”; see ibidem, p. 30, 42.
11 Gryglewski, op. cit., p. 227.
12 See Chyczewski, op. cit.', Lewicka, op. cit.', Miłobędzki, Pułtuski „system architektoniczny”...; Kunkel, Jan Baptysta...',
idem, Architektura gotycka ..., pp. 94—98.