Drewniana architektura sakralna w Polsce : zagadnienie typów i form regionalnych w rozwoju historycznym

• Authors: Kornecki Marian

Title variants

EN

WOODEN CHURCH ARCHITECTURE IN POLAND

• Languages of publication: PL EN

Abstracts

EN

Wooden constructions belonged to the inseparable elements of the historical landscape of Poland. Its universal nature, form and development were connected with ethnic-cultural traditions, the extensive supplies of building material and ease of its tooling, as well as the prevalent social and economic conditions. In the process of historical transformations, they always reflected two, apparently contradictory tendencies; on the one hand, tradition, particularly constant in isolated peripherial environments, and, on the other hand, currents from the outside, whose influence varied as regards its degree and range. Within this panorama a special place was assigned to churches, the foremost achievements of carpentry and dominating architectonic elements of settlement structures, which played essential socio-ideological role. Their variety was affected by the location of the country on the European crossroads, and by the cultural contacts between the West and the East. Polish wooden churches have been the subject of extensive research and publications. This article, based on a synthetically outlined background of their development, pays special attention to the variety of regional types and forms, observed in an historical perspective. Churches. It is well know that the form and nature of Polish wooden churches were influenced by principles which originated in Western culture, although local conditions were important, at least as regards material culture. This fact was the reason for the domination of frame construction. Unfortunately, extant objects do not date from a period earlier than the fifteenth century, and an attempt at filling this gap has so far been unsuccessful. The oldest surviving edifices present an already high technical level and at times even complicated solutions which were proposed by professional guild workshops, and the reason for the typicality of the buildings. At the end of the Middle Ages, the original regions of Poland (Little Poland - the Cracow archdiocese, and Greater Poland - the Gniezno archdiocese) witnessed a domination of two consistently realised types which differed as regards the conceptions for covering the two main fragments - the nave and the presbytery. The churches were single-nave and originally without towers, decorated with modest Late Gothic ornaments of a universal typological range. In the sixteenth and even in the seventeenth century this „Gothic" architectonic programme was continued since the Renaissance and Mannerism were not adopted by wooden architecture. Nonetheless, the typicality of the edifices was no longer closely observed, and the technical quality deteriorated due to the regress of the guilds as well as the exhaustion of the supplies of good building material. In certain regions a turret built in the post-frame construction and added to the main part of the building became a universal feature. The Baroque made its imprint as late as the end of the seventeenth century, and initially affected only details (the illusory vault). At that time it was already possible to distinguish many regional groups which reflected either common sources of their realization or local variants. In the eighteenth century there appeared a new factor: the participation of professional architects (sometimes educated dilletantes) who, often contrary to the properties of the building material, undertook attempts at a realization of concrete fashionable architectonic types in wood. This is a unique phenomenon of Polish wooden architecture, unknown elsewhere. Attempts were made at „imitating" a number of purely Baroque solutions disseminated in Poland during the Counter-Reformation. One can encounter copies of the Jesuit transept-dome basilica (the Roman II Gesu model), basilicas with blocked tower facades, unturreted basilicas, with a pair of chapels as a transept, and, finally, hall, tower and unturreted projects. Churches with such greatly differentiated programmes and often with rich architectonic embellishments (not to mention painted and statuary decorations) occur either as isolated examples or constitute related groups which sometimes are the outcome of copying patterns from nearby. The article cites instances of such affiliations. Nonetheless, those foremost creations constitute a minority since alongside there survived a modest traditional type of building, enrooted in medieval patterns, and only superficially modelled on the Baroque - such accents as tower helmets can be grouped according to regions. This current is accompanied by primitive folk examples connected with an increasingly stronger initiative upon the part of wider social groups. Sporadically, it is also possible to encounter objects realized by sui generis peasant „entrepreneurs" who were commissioned to erect various constructions and primarily employed local or wandering artisans. The nineteenth century - the era of the decline of Polish statehood - was a period of regression caused by numerous factors, including the impoverishment of the country, longterm wars and foreign rule, all of which influenced also the Polish Church. The wooden sacral architecture of the time reflects Classicism, neo-Gothic and eclectic styles to a lesser degree although one comes across more interesting solutions. At the turn of the century, a search, stimulated by patriotic moods, was made for national forms in architecture which reached assumed cultural roots. Against this background there emerged a wave of neo-regionalism which produced interesting effects based originally on observations of the folk architecture of the Podhale region. The same trends enlivened wooden church architecture which preferred patterns from Piła, mainly applied in the southern parts of the country. The neo-regional current was continued, although to a smaller extent, in the interwar period. Later on, wooden churches appeared more as temporary constructions, bringing to an end a magnificent chapter in the history of Polish architecture, so characteristic for the identity of the local cultural landscape. Russian Orthodox and Uniate churches. The origin, development and changes of wooden Russian Orthodox churches are not easily determined. A significant role was played not by the sources themselves but rather by the paths of various inspirations, the divergent and variable Church organization, the history of Polish expansion in areas of cultural contacts, the history of the union with the Eastern Church as well as ethnic relations: migrations, assimilation and war cataclysms. The absence of many links in the development process, the insufficient archive source material and, until recently, unsatisfactory scientific publications constituted a serious obstacle. At present, it is possible to distinguish several regional groups of this architecture and to capture their transformations in longer spaces of time. A distinct group is composed of churches in the Carpathian and sub-Carpathian regions, particularly the Lemko edifices found in the most westerly enclave. They were built as a result of the late colonization of this mountaineous region by the Walachian- Ruthenian shpeherds, intermixed with the Polish population. The result was the emergence of a tripartite building corresponding to the requirements of lithurgy, with elements borrowed from church architecture; an essential element is a post-frame tower with an overhanging bell storey, built to the west from the women's section. Another distinct accent are onion domes which top the towers and other parts of the edifice. Further to the East the buildings combined various features. The oldest were single dome (with the copula over the nave) or triple-dome churches. The outer solid revealed domes which often assumed the forms of geometrical, tiered roofs. From the eighteenth century this was also the region of Uniate churches, outwardly similar to Roman Catholic buildings, with modest solids, in which the divisions required by lithurgy were as if introduced into the interiors. Another group includes churches in the eastern parts of the Lublin region (Tomaszow, Zamość and Hrubieszow), an enclave where the Uniate Church, abolished by the Russians, survived in the Austrian partition area. The extant buildings, predominantly single-or triple-dome, can be distinguished from their Carpathian counterparts. Here too, Uniate edifices were similar to modest rural churches. A special group is represented by Orthodox churches along the Lithuanian-Byelorussian frontier. The older, post-Uniate constructions are relatively unadorned and include edifices built on a ground plan of an elongated polygon with a geometrical quasi-dome, or, as in the above mentioned regions, they outwardly resemble village churches. On the other hand, buildings dating from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which survived in large numbers, reveal elements of Russian or Byelorussian architecture. They are of a tri-partite configuration, with a dominating central part and with walls covered by horizontal planking. A characteristic feature is a vertical tower, sometimes an octagon, with a pillar helmet. Just as frequent are walls painted blue, a colour not used in Polish sacral architecture in other regions. The article does not fully discuss the extensively formulated topic. Its general intention, presented against a background of an abbreviated outline, was to emphasize problems of the regionalism of wooden church architecture which call for further detailed investigations.

Keywords

PL

budownictwo drewniane; architektura drewniana; architektura sakralna; kościoły drewniane; kościoły średniowieczne; architektura cerkiewna

• Publisher: Narodowy Instytut Dziedzictwa
• Journal: Ochrona Zabytków
• Year: 1992
• Issue: 1-2
• Pages: 7-31

Dates

published

1993

Contributors

author

Kornecki Marian

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Identifiers

ISSN

0029-8247