EN
Sacral investments in the Kingdom of Poland were co n d u cted u p o n the basis of strictly observed regulations, pertaining above all to the principles of financing church architecture. The fundamental issues concerned the division of costs between the parishioners, the parish priest and the patron. Pertinent laws were issued in the years 1817-1837, w h en a classification o f parish buildings was performed. From 1817 to 1823 buildings located within the range of the church cemetery i.a. the church itself, bell tower, charnel house and sexton’s house, were made distinct, and funds for their construction and renovation were assigned. In 1837 a similar operation was performed as regards the presbytery — both residential an d other buildings. This procedure signified a distinction between the residential buildings provided for the parish priest and the curate, a separate building for the servants, a barn, stable, carriage house and shed. The investment obligations of both the parish priest and secular persons were precisely determined. The same legislation included documents concerning models of sacral architecture. It was announced in a decree issued in 1823, and the following year there appeared the first publication of this kind — Hilary Szpilowski’s Wzory kościołow parafialnych... (Models of Parish Churches...) (1753-1827). The plates presented predominantly Classicistic designs, including that of a Protestant church, as well as examples of a brick and wooden presbytery (fig. 1-2). Soon Chrystian Aigner (1746-1841) issued another publication entitled Budowy kościołow (Church Construction), which he discontinued following the presentation of plans of four Classicistic edifices. The elderly authors proposed a summary of their experiences, depicted in sophisticated forms, but already rather distant from progressive phenomena in European architecture. Since their endeavours were abandoned, the prototypes borrowed from the accomplishments of the two classics — not always faithfully copied — remained exclusive and aspired to the rank of canons. After a lengthy delay there appeared yet another publication of this variety (1849) entitled Plany normalne na zabudowania mieszkalne i ekonomiczne plebańskie w parafii klasy I, II, III (Normal Plans for Residential and Household Presbytery Buildings in Parishes of First, Second and Third Class). The author was Andrzej Gołoński (1799-1854) whose work constitutes the object of a typological and functional analysis conducted in this study. All the projects were intended for parishes in villages and small towns, where the basic source of subsistence was agriculture. Quite possibly, the foremost purpose of this initiative was to encourage brick constructions, especially in the provinces where timber was still readily applied. Nonetheless, it is quite unlikely that these proposals encountered great interest. They had appeared belatedly, and remained the last stage of processes initiated during the constitutional period between 1815 and 1830; moreover, they did not satisfy readers who cherished greater aspirations and who preferred more individualized buildings. Finally, the distance from the somber period which followed the January Uprising of 1863 was too brief. When it was ultimately replaced by a lively trend of sacral architecture, Gołoński’s documentation could be regarded solely as an anachronic testimony of the past (table I-VI).