DOI Artikel:
Szybisty, Tomasz; Zeńczak, Anna: Restauracja kaplicy Szafrańców w katedrze krakowskiej w latach 1901-1908: Dzieje, program artystyczny i ideowy
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67299#0269
Tomasz Szybisty
Pedagogical University of Kraków
AnnaZeńczak
National Museum in Kraków
The Restoration of the Szafraniec Chapel in Kraków Cathedral
in 1901 -1908: History, and the Artistic and Conceptual Program
The article discusses in detail the early-twentieth century renovation of the Szafra-
niec Chapel (also called the Doctors or Radziwiłł Chapel), which was part of the
major restoration of the Kraków cathedral funded by the Radziwiłł family. The
present artistic and conceptual program of the chapel, centered on Cardinal Jerzy
Radziwiłł s monument by Pius Weloński and wali paintings and stained glass by
Józef Mehoffer in the style of the Young Poland movement, was formulated at
this time. The first tangible conception for the monument, from 1897, envisaged
a kneeling likeness of the Cardinal and a set of bronze reliefs with scenes high-
lighting his role as a statesman and promoter of the Catholic faith. The source
for the iconography of these scenes may have the eighteenth-century collection
of the lives of Polish saints, Matka świętych Polska [Poland, Mother of Saints] by
Florian Jaroszewicz. Ultimately, however, it was decided that the cardinals sculp-
ture should be madę in the style of Sansovinos semi-reclining effigies, and bio-
graphical references were abandoned. The monument was placed in the chapel in
autumn of 1904. A year earlier, on March 5,1903, the winner of the competition
for the stained glass window in the chapel was announced. For unknown reasons,
instead of Franciszek Mączyński s winning proposal, a design by Józef Mehoffer,
which depicted the Virgin of the Gate of Dawn, a elear allusion to the Lithuanian
origins of the Radziwiłł family, was implemented. The stained glass window, ex-
ecuted by the S. G. Żeleński Stained Glass Company in Kraków, was installed in
April 1908. Two years earlier, Mehoffer completed the painted decoration of the
chapels interior. The main element of its iconographic program are figures of
armed angels on the vault, which were probably inspired by Byzantine and me-
dieval Italian mosaics. This motif should be read within a national and religious
context. Moreover, the decoration on the north wali refers to Saint John Cantius,
who is depicted in the eighteenth-century painting in the altar of the chapel.
Pedagogical University of Kraków
AnnaZeńczak
National Museum in Kraków
The Restoration of the Szafraniec Chapel in Kraków Cathedral
in 1901 -1908: History, and the Artistic and Conceptual Program
The article discusses in detail the early-twentieth century renovation of the Szafra-
niec Chapel (also called the Doctors or Radziwiłł Chapel), which was part of the
major restoration of the Kraków cathedral funded by the Radziwiłł family. The
present artistic and conceptual program of the chapel, centered on Cardinal Jerzy
Radziwiłł s monument by Pius Weloński and wali paintings and stained glass by
Józef Mehoffer in the style of the Young Poland movement, was formulated at
this time. The first tangible conception for the monument, from 1897, envisaged
a kneeling likeness of the Cardinal and a set of bronze reliefs with scenes high-
lighting his role as a statesman and promoter of the Catholic faith. The source
for the iconography of these scenes may have the eighteenth-century collection
of the lives of Polish saints, Matka świętych Polska [Poland, Mother of Saints] by
Florian Jaroszewicz. Ultimately, however, it was decided that the cardinals sculp-
ture should be madę in the style of Sansovinos semi-reclining effigies, and bio-
graphical references were abandoned. The monument was placed in the chapel in
autumn of 1904. A year earlier, on March 5,1903, the winner of the competition
for the stained glass window in the chapel was announced. For unknown reasons,
instead of Franciszek Mączyński s winning proposal, a design by Józef Mehoffer,
which depicted the Virgin of the Gate of Dawn, a elear allusion to the Lithuanian
origins of the Radziwiłł family, was implemented. The stained glass window, ex-
ecuted by the S. G. Żeleński Stained Glass Company in Kraków, was installed in
April 1908. Two years earlier, Mehoffer completed the painted decoration of the
chapels interior. The main element of its iconographic program are figures of
armed angels on the vault, which were probably inspired by Byzantine and me-
dieval Italian mosaics. This motif should be read within a national and religious
context. Moreover, the decoration on the north wali refers to Saint John Cantius,
who is depicted in the eighteenth-century painting in the altar of the chapel.