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#0023
AN ALLUSION TO A CATHEDRAL IN A RURAL FOUNDATION?...
21
14. Matrei, church of St. Nicholas, lateral cut.
Drawing after M. Pizzinini, Matrei in Osttirol
und. seine Geschichte, Regensburg 1980, p. 15
15. Matrei, church of St. Nicholas, interior
viewed towards the east. Photo by J. Adamski
It is somewhat surprising that in the Middle Ages axial eastern towers were decidedly most often a feature
of village parish churches of the south-western regions of the Empire. Until ca. 1600, a few hundred of
one-nave churches were built in Upper Rhineland, Thuringia and along the Danube, in which the bell towers
were situated directly on the walls of rectangular chancels.64 Wolfgang Müller, who analysed churches of
this type in the Upper Rhineland region of Ortenau, assumed that this may have resulted mainly from the
need to economise: to functionally fuse the choir and the ground level of the bell tower was a cost-cutting
solution.65 It must be stressed, however, that all edifices of this type differ from the Brochów church in
the fact that they do not have a visual connection between the interior of the upper level of the tower
with the interior of the choir. The only example is a small church in Matrei in East Tirol, built in the late
12th century. Its square sanctuary, which constitutes a base for the bell tower, is divided into two levels
that are fully open to the interior of the nave and ca. 1470 remodelled to communicate with it by means of
a structure resembling a rood screen with a flight of stairs (Fig. 14, 15). The original derivation of the two-level
division of the choir is indisputable, however, because both spaces (including their vaults) are wholly covered
with frescoes painted in the third quarter of the 13th century.66
Although the above examples confirm that eastern towers were very popular in the medieval church
architecture of Central Europe, they do not explain the unusual solution that was used in the construction
of the Brochów church. It is very probable that the decision to build a gallery in the tower above the
apse of this Mazovian church was dictated by the desire to refer to the unique spatial programme of
a church that was of absolutely primary importance to the Brochów one. This church was the cathedral in
64 E. Eimer, Die romanische Chorturmkirche in Süd- und Westdeutschland, Tübingen 1935; idem, Die Chorturmkirche in Würt-
temberg, [in:] “Württembergische Vierteljahrshefte für Landesgeschichte”, Neue Folge, 1935, 41, pp. 254—266; J. Hoster, Chortürme im
Rheinland, “Colonia Sacra”, 1, 1947, pp. 100 162; E. Bachmann, Chorturm, [in:] Reallexikon zur Deutschen Kunstgeschichte, Bd. 3,
1953, col. 567-575; W. Müller, Die Ortenau als Chorturmlandschaft. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der ältesten Dorfkirchen, Bühl-Baden
1965; idem, Pfälzische Chorturmkirchen, “Blätter für pfälzische Kirchengeschichte und religiöse Volkskunde”, 34, 1967, pp. 172-187.
65 Müller, Die Ortenau..., pp. 108.
66 M. Pizzinini, Matrei in Osttirol und seine Geschichte, Regensburg 1980, pp. 14-23.
21
14. Matrei, church of St. Nicholas, lateral cut.
Drawing after M. Pizzinini, Matrei in Osttirol
und. seine Geschichte, Regensburg 1980, p. 15
15. Matrei, church of St. Nicholas, interior
viewed towards the east. Photo by J. Adamski
It is somewhat surprising that in the Middle Ages axial eastern towers were decidedly most often a feature
of village parish churches of the south-western regions of the Empire. Until ca. 1600, a few hundred of
one-nave churches were built in Upper Rhineland, Thuringia and along the Danube, in which the bell towers
were situated directly on the walls of rectangular chancels.64 Wolfgang Müller, who analysed churches of
this type in the Upper Rhineland region of Ortenau, assumed that this may have resulted mainly from the
need to economise: to functionally fuse the choir and the ground level of the bell tower was a cost-cutting
solution.65 It must be stressed, however, that all edifices of this type differ from the Brochów church in
the fact that they do not have a visual connection between the interior of the upper level of the tower
with the interior of the choir. The only example is a small church in Matrei in East Tirol, built in the late
12th century. Its square sanctuary, which constitutes a base for the bell tower, is divided into two levels
that are fully open to the interior of the nave and ca. 1470 remodelled to communicate with it by means of
a structure resembling a rood screen with a flight of stairs (Fig. 14, 15). The original derivation of the two-level
division of the choir is indisputable, however, because both spaces (including their vaults) are wholly covered
with frescoes painted in the third quarter of the 13th century.66
Although the above examples confirm that eastern towers were very popular in the medieval church
architecture of Central Europe, they do not explain the unusual solution that was used in the construction
of the Brochów church. It is very probable that the decision to build a gallery in the tower above the
apse of this Mazovian church was dictated by the desire to refer to the unique spatial programme of
a church that was of absolutely primary importance to the Brochów one. This church was the cathedral in
64 E. Eimer, Die romanische Chorturmkirche in Süd- und Westdeutschland, Tübingen 1935; idem, Die Chorturmkirche in Würt-
temberg, [in:] “Württembergische Vierteljahrshefte für Landesgeschichte”, Neue Folge, 1935, 41, pp. 254—266; J. Hoster, Chortürme im
Rheinland, “Colonia Sacra”, 1, 1947, pp. 100 162; E. Bachmann, Chorturm, [in:] Reallexikon zur Deutschen Kunstgeschichte, Bd. 3,
1953, col. 567-575; W. Müller, Die Ortenau als Chorturmlandschaft. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der ältesten Dorfkirchen, Bühl-Baden
1965; idem, Pfälzische Chorturmkirchen, “Blätter für pfälzische Kirchengeschichte und religiöse Volkskunde”, 34, 1967, pp. 172-187.
65 Müller, Die Ortenau..., pp. 108.
66 M. Pizzinini, Matrei in Osttirol und seine Geschichte, Regensburg 1980, pp. 14-23.