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#0024
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JAKUB ADAMSKI
16. Poznań, cathedral, axonometric reconstruction of the choir in the original condition.
Photo after S. Skibiński, Katedra poznańska, Poznań 2001, p. 62
Poznań, which until 1797 was the mother church of the Warsaw archdeaconry (including the deaconry of
Sochaczew and Brochów), which from the earliest times (probably since the reinstitution of the diocese
in 1075/1076) had been an extraterritorial part of the bishopric of Poznań.67
The cathedral in Poznań acquired a new chevet with a choir ambulatory after 1380; radiating chapels
were added after 1403 on the initiative of Bishop Wojciech Jastrzębiec.68 When seen against the background
of Gothic cathedrals in Poland, the form of the Poznań edifice was extraordinary; regrettably, it was
erroneously reconstructed during the post-war restoration of its previous medieval appearance: a triforium
was constructed above the arcades of the choir, which originally had been discontinued on the axis and
in the side bays of the polygonal termination of the sanctuary. Large openings that were originally set in
those places gave onto gallery chapels situated within hexagonal towers above the bays of the ambulatory
(Fig. 16-18)69. These chapels are confirmed as functioning in the written sources. A document from 1461
describes the southern radiating chapel as the “lower” one, which suggests that the tower gallery directly
above it was known as the “upper” chapel.70 In 1512 on the initiative of Bishop Jan Lubrański it was
restructured to communicate with the upper floor of the episcopal palace through a bridge-like passage
(“propugnaculum de curia in ecclesiam”) that existed until as late as 1818.71 From 1622 onwards this
chapel was described as the music tribune. The gallery in the axial tower (mentioned in 1465 as the
“turris super choro”), with its opening situated directly above the main altar of the cathedral, was known
67 See Nowacki, Archidiecezja poznańska..., pp. 35-39, 297-304, 505-550; T. Jurek, Biskupstwo poznańskie w wiekach śred-
nich, Poznań 2018 {Dzieje Archidiecezji Poznańskiej, vol. 1), pp. 214-215.
68 S. Skibiński, Polskie katedry gotyckie, Poznań 1996, pp. 139-166; idem, Katedra poznańska, Poznań 2001, pp. 50-83.
69 Skibiński, Polskie katedry..., pp. 154—155, 162-165; idem, Katedra poznańska..., pp. 73-79.
70 J. Nowacki, Kościół katedralny w Poznaniu. Studium historyczne, Poznań 1959 {Dzieje Archidiecezji Poznańskiej, vol. 1),
pp. 451.
71 Ibidem, pp. 452^455.
JAKUB ADAMSKI
16. Poznań, cathedral, axonometric reconstruction of the choir in the original condition.
Photo after S. Skibiński, Katedra poznańska, Poznań 2001, p. 62
Poznań, which until 1797 was the mother church of the Warsaw archdeaconry (including the deaconry of
Sochaczew and Brochów), which from the earliest times (probably since the reinstitution of the diocese
in 1075/1076) had been an extraterritorial part of the bishopric of Poznań.67
The cathedral in Poznań acquired a new chevet with a choir ambulatory after 1380; radiating chapels
were added after 1403 on the initiative of Bishop Wojciech Jastrzębiec.68 When seen against the background
of Gothic cathedrals in Poland, the form of the Poznań edifice was extraordinary; regrettably, it was
erroneously reconstructed during the post-war restoration of its previous medieval appearance: a triforium
was constructed above the arcades of the choir, which originally had been discontinued on the axis and
in the side bays of the polygonal termination of the sanctuary. Large openings that were originally set in
those places gave onto gallery chapels situated within hexagonal towers above the bays of the ambulatory
(Fig. 16-18)69. These chapels are confirmed as functioning in the written sources. A document from 1461
describes the southern radiating chapel as the “lower” one, which suggests that the tower gallery directly
above it was known as the “upper” chapel.70 In 1512 on the initiative of Bishop Jan Lubrański it was
restructured to communicate with the upper floor of the episcopal palace through a bridge-like passage
(“propugnaculum de curia in ecclesiam”) that existed until as late as 1818.71 From 1622 onwards this
chapel was described as the music tribune. The gallery in the axial tower (mentioned in 1465 as the
“turris super choro”), with its opening situated directly above the main altar of the cathedral, was known
67 See Nowacki, Archidiecezja poznańska..., pp. 35-39, 297-304, 505-550; T. Jurek, Biskupstwo poznańskie w wiekach śred-
nich, Poznań 2018 {Dzieje Archidiecezji Poznańskiej, vol. 1), pp. 214-215.
68 S. Skibiński, Polskie katedry gotyckie, Poznań 1996, pp. 139-166; idem, Katedra poznańska, Poznań 2001, pp. 50-83.
69 Skibiński, Polskie katedry..., pp. 154—155, 162-165; idem, Katedra poznańska..., pp. 73-79.
70 J. Nowacki, Kościół katedralny w Poznaniu. Studium historyczne, Poznań 1959 {Dzieje Archidiecezji Poznańskiej, vol. 1),
pp. 451.
71 Ibidem, pp. 452^455.