In the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, the space of the temple is identified with the holy place, the sacred. Issues related to architecture, including religious architecture, although not the most important in church doctrine, nevertheless find their place in it. The subject of religious architecture appears primarily in connection with the function that the building is to fulfill for the community of believers – a gathering place for the celebration of the liturgy. The sacred building should meet liturgical requirements, and also help to build community and an atmosphere of concentration, with the shape of the space so that it stands out from many other buildings that have different social purposes. He thus becomes “God’s home”. The sacrum of the church space is also emphasized by the extensive symbolism, referring both to its whole and individual parts. Throughout the history of the Church, the topic of religious architecture has appeared in many of its documents, both universal and local. The most important of them will be cited in the text, showing the complexity and importance of the issue of religious architecture in the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church.
Prince Frederick, Cardinal Jagiellonian (1468-1503), is one of the most outstanding, though still unrecognizable representatives of the Polish episcopate at the turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. As the youngest son of King Casimir IV Jagiellonian and Elizabeth of the Habsburg family, he was destined to become a clergyman, in order to support the dynasty on behalf of the Church. Frederick fulfilled this task perfectly. Climbing quickly the levels of church dignity as bishop of Cracow (from 1488), then while maintaining the Wawel Cathedral, also the archbishop of Gniezno and the primate (from 1493) and the cardinal (1493), he showed an effort in pastoral matters of the dioceses entrusted to him, as well as undertaking significant activities in the political arena. He devoted special merits to his older brother King John I Olbracht (1459-1501). He skillfully elected him to the throne of Cracow in 1492 and then managed the state during the Black Sea expedition of Olbracht in 1497 and repeatedly supplied the royal treasury with significant amounts of money from the church fund. As a politicain, Cardinal Frederick displayed an excellent sense and orientation both in the internal state and on the international arena. The aim of the article is to outline the political biography of Frederick Jagiellonian by recalling his actions in the era of Jan I Olbracht.
The development of issues related to the conservation of sacred architecture is part of a broad trend related to the protection and care of monuments, shaped over the centuries, both by historical events and specific decisions of state and church authorities. The conviction about the need to protect historic sacred buildings, deeply rooted in social consciousness, results primarily from the values, including symbolic ones, that these objects carry. The beginnings of conservation thought in relation to sacred architecture can be found in the decline of Christian antiquity. It then developed throughout the Middle Ages, and in modern times it became visible in specific legislative decisions. The current standards of conservation proceedings for monuments of sacred architecture are identical to the requirements applicable to all historic buildings and are subject to the supervision of conservation authorities.
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