Vidi coelum novum et terram novam. The Chapel of Our Lady ofMount Carmel at Frydman: The Meaning and Origin of Forms

• Authors: Staniszewska Maria Kazimiera

Title variants

PL

Vidi coelum novum et terram novam. Treści ideowe i geneza form Kaplicy Matki Boskiej Karmelitańskiej we Frydmanie

• Languages of publication: PL EN

Abstracts

EN

The paper deals with the chapel located by the parish church in Frydman in the Spis (Scepusium) region, founded by the local parish priest Michał Lorencs in 1764. The interior of the octagonal building, is fitted with a homogeneous set of furnishings consisting of a centrally located two-sided retable surmounted by a uniąue shrine in the form of a glazed star, and numerous wooden sculptures decorating niches in the walls. The chapel used to be a pilgrimage site and became the founder s resting place. The paper discusses the history of the chapel, the religious and political context of its foundation as well as problems explored in earlier studies, both popular and scholarly ones, with special attention deyoted to the article by Jan Białostocki and Adam Miłobędzki, from 1957, that has seryed as a crucial point of reference in the existing interpretations of the chapel. Further, the article attempts to elucidate the still unresolved problem of the origins of the chapels plan and forms of its retable, pointing to the traits they share with the sacred architecture of pilgrimage sites, particularly shrines. The Chapel of the Holy Shroud in Turin has been suggested as the closest counterpart for the Frydman chapel as far as its architectural plan, the retable type and the way of displaying relics are concerned. The soft, flowing lines of the a-tectonic forms of the retable, in turn, seem to resemble South-German small-scale architectural church furnishings from the mid-eighteenth century. As far as the message carried by the decoration of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Chapel is concerned, selected Old- and New Testament figures, depicted in the retable and wali niches, have been identified, and particular themes represented in the above decoration have been determined. The first, sepulchral, theme is manifested in the unmarked burial site of Father Lorencs, located ad sanctos, in the immediate proximity of the relics of catacomb saints. The next, Carmelite, theme is related to the Scapular Confraternity that had been associated with the chapel and church. The paper discusses also the Marian symbolism of the chapel, already explored to some extent in earlier literaturę, and its prominent Christological and Eucharistic themes, which have hitherto not been adeąuately examined. In conclusion, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Chapel is considered as a symbolic representation of the Heavenly Jerusalem and a powerful profession of faith in the intercession of saints and the Virgin Mary before God.

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Jagielloński
• Journal: Modus. Prace z historii sztuki
• Year: 2017
• Volume: 17
• Pages: 5-34

Contributors

author

Staniszewska Maria Kazimiera

• Instytut Historii Sztuki UJ