Mieczysław Stec.
"Byzantine Wall Paintings in Wiślica: Their History and Restoration" SUMMARY In the 14th and 15th Centuries, Hungary, Bohemia and Poland came into political prominence. The crucial event in this process was the union of the Kingdom of Poland with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1386). The first step was the elimination of their common enemy – the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights (The Battle of Grunwald 1410, 1466). For the next six hundred years both nations shared their history and fate. The Jagiellonian dynasty joined the European mainstream and as a consequence of interfamily marriages became involved in the politics of the neighbouring countries i.e. the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary. Being united as one state, Poland and Lithuania shared two cultural zones – the Eastern and the Western – each influencing and enriching the other while maintaining their individual distinctions. In the culture of Poland the Jagiellonians played a special role. The Jagiellonians of the royal line founded the first wall decorations in Byzantine style. These decorations have a particular place in the history of Polish art and Polish history and held a special role within its development. King Władysław Jagiełło was a neophyte Catholic as he was brought up in the tradition of Orthodox Church and was imbued with its expression and spirit. Decorations of numerous churches on the King’s route to Vilnius testify to his sentiment. Byzantine style paintings commissioned by the King decorate church interiors in: Lublin, Sandomierz, Wiślica, Św. Krzyż in Łysiec, and in Kraków. They were created in already-existing Gothic churches as entirely new and original embellishments with specific expression. These wall paintings have survived under coats of plaster or overpaintings untill the present day. All frescoes commissioned by the Jagiellonians were revealed and restored except for the one in Sandomierz, where the restoration is currently underway. During the cannonade of the First World Word, plaster in the choir loft fell off revealing painted decorations. They were identified as Byzantine Russian wall paintings. The frescoes were uncovered and subjected to conservation. This process was repeated at the end of the 20th Century as well. In the 14th and 15th Centuries the political importance of Hungary, Bohemia and Poland increased. The crucial event in this process was the Union of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1386). The first step was the elimination of their common enemy – the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights (the Battle of Grunwald 1410, and the Peace of Toruń 1466). The Jagiellonian dynasty subsequently joined the European mainstream. As a result of royal intermarriages it became involved in the politics of neighboring countries i.e. the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary. Being united as one state, Poland and Lithuania shared two cultural zones – the Eastern and the Western – each influencing and enriching the other while maintaining their individual distinctions. Territories under the jurisdiction of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were integrated into one multicultural Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian political entity that lasted for six hundred years. The religion and liturgical traditions that had been shaped throughout centuries in their own manners gradually merged into a conglomerate of Western and Ruthenian Byzantine Catholicism[1]. After the Union was established contacts between the capitals of the common state (i.e. Vilnus – capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Kraków – capital of the Kingdom of Poland) intensified, thus influencing the integration of cultural traditions. This could be seen especially in the capitals, large cities and in settlements located along the main country roads. One of the main roads between the capitals led through Lublin, Sandomierz, Wiślica and abother through Święty Krzyż (Benedictine monastery in Łysiec). After the Great Schism of 1054 between Eastern and Western Christianity the differences between cult, liturgy and piety increased greatly. This difference was, in fact, one of the main reasons for the schism in the first place. Over the course of time this brought shifts in the understanding of religious art, artistic expression, form and the choice of depicted subjects. In the first centuries of its existence, Poland was a rather uniform state and the artistic schemes were imported from the South and the West. Since Christianity was accepted in Poland from Bohemia in 966 the sacral art and culture had been shaped and followed according to the Roman Catholic modes. The turning point was the Union with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1386 r.) for the mutual contacts introduced a hybrid of values. This innovation was supported by papacy. The Orthodox Church, with its cradle in Byzantium, was shaped by Greek models, which, over the course of time, was enriched by numerous local traditions. Greek missionaries brought Christianity in the 9th and 10th Centuries to Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Kievan Ruthenia. In the latter country, Vladimir, Prince of Kiev, proclaimed Christianity as the official religion in 988. This would be the source of many conflicts that would go on for centuries within Russia and eventually engage Poland as well. In the culture of Poland the Jagiellonians played a special role. The Jagiellonians of the royal line founded the first wall decorations in Byzantine style. These decorations have a particular place in the history of Polish art and Polish history and held a special role within its development. King Władysław Jagiełło was a neophyte Catholic as he was brought up in the tradition of Orthodox Church. Out of the nine Byzantine-Ruthenian polychromes created during the Jagiellonians' reign, four have survived until today; namely decorations in the Chapel of Holy Trinity in Lublin, in the Cathedral in Sandomierz, in the collegiate church in Wiślica, and in the Świętkorzyska Chapel in the Wawel Cathedral (Kraków). The form of this chapel-mausoleum (built in 1470)[2] was built by Kazimierz Jagiellończyk and helped to underline the king’s ties with family traditions. All the masterpieces of Byzantine style were created in the already existing and functioning cult structures. They had their own exceptional expression – which is still visible today. The Eastern manner of decoration is characterized by a need to fill the entire surfaces of an interior with intricate details (the so called fear of empty spaces)[3]. The manner of artistic thinking and representing subjects was introduced and followed according to the Eastern rite. One should keep in mind that icons and painted representations have different meanings, different places of their origin, and are perceived in a totally different manner in the Eastern Orthodox Church and in the Roman Catholic Church[4]. Byzantine-Ruthenian wall paintings in Lublin, Sandomierz, Wiślica and in the Świętokrzyska Chapel in Krakow, have all survived until our times under coats of plaster, whitewash and repainted layers. The exception is the Świętokrzyska Chapel where its decorations were frequently repaired and repainted for the paintings of Eastern origin have always held great esteem. Historical sources such as registers written by the canons of Sandomierz and Cracovian bishops, testify to the notion that the frescoes were intriguing and respected by contemporaries[5]. The collegiate church of The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Wiślica (2nd half of the 14th century) was founded by Kazimierz Wielki (Casimir the Great) and completed by king Ludwik Węgierski (Louis I the Great). This high-ceilinged church consists of a double nave and a four-bay, rib-vaulted choir loft. Lancet windows on the Southern wall and in the apse provide good lighting for the interior. The windows on the northern wall are walled in. The church was built with masonry from a Romanesque Church that stood in this place but had been torn down[6] and with blocks of Pińczów limestone with runs jointed with lime-sand mortar. By 1420 the whole surface of the choir loft together with walled windows and glyphs was covered with paintings executed in the technique of Ruthenian-Byzantine fresco. The composition was subordinated to the five main parts surrounded by a red stripe. The glyphs and the tops of the windows were filled with geometrical floral motives. The lower parts of the walls were decorated with painted draperies with figured patterns, which made the interior look somehow like a residence rather than a holy shrine. The decoration that has survived to this day is just one third of the original one. The main topic of the depiction is scenes from the lives of the Virgin Mary and Christ all in various degrees of preservation. The most important depictions are as follows: On the Northern wall · The Annunciation · Christ’s Nativity · Christ entering Jerusalem · The Last Supper · The Crucifixion On the apse wall: · The Flagellation · Soldiers mocking Christ · A Priest judges Christ · Pilate judges Christ On the Southern wall: · Oblation in the Temple · Dormition of the Virgin · The Virgin Birth · Deposition from the Cross [7] All of these scenes are supplemented by numerous figures and portraits of Saints. The elements that emphasize that the decoration is derived from the Orthodox tradition are that the captions are written in the Cyrillic alphabet followed by minuscule Latin captions. Interventions carried out by architect Adolf Szyszko-Bohusz in 1919 – 1931 were generally aimed at reconstructing the damaged temple, however minor repairs to the interior were also conducted. During the cannonade of the First World War, plaster in the choir loft fell off revealing the painted decorations. Once they were identified and recognized as valuable, the decision was made to uncover the frescoes and subject them to conservation. This was completed in 1919-1921. Several layers of plaster and whitewash were removed. The restoration works were conducted by the inhabitants of Wiślica, who were not sufficiently prepared to carry out such procedures. These days we would deem this to be extremely irresponsible, but in the 1920s there were no obligatory standards or methodologies in practice. Works carried out by a group of amateurs caused even more damage to the already partially destroyed frescoes[8]. It was reported that: Some of the polychrome had been destroyed, especially on the vaults… some of the relicts were detached only to be almost completely destroyed later[9]. Attempts were made to fix the detached parts of mortar with runny plaster of Paris poured between the cleavages and wall masonry, but it only added to the distortion. The other procedure introduced to stabilize the detached layers was nailing them with specially prepared nails and pads[10]. During the works carried in the 1960s it appeared that almost 80% of the original plaster was detached and that most of it (up to 2 m2 ) didn’t adhere to the wall at all[11]. It is hard to believe that these crumbled coats of sand-lime mortar could have somehow stuck to the walls. But mortars constructed in the Byzantine-Ruthenian technique are exceptionally cohesive. This kind of plaster remains flexible so that it can be delicately bent and its properties resembles these of felt. As the mortar was applied in thin coats, it remained light no matter how large of an area it covered. An additional stabilizing effect was made when lime-cement-sand plaster bands were applied during the intervention in the 1920s. The same type of mortar was used to fill the lacunae. All of the parts were not neatly worked out[12] and up to 10% of the original was covered with plaster, which raised additional difficulties during its removal in the 1960s, although it added to the stability of the whole decoration at the time. After the Second World War, in 1957, work on the restoration of the wall paintings began. These projects were carried out according to scientific standards and were led by professor Józef Dutkiewicz – the founder of the Faculty of Conservation at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków – with a group of his students[13]. The projects focused on the Scene of Offering in the Temple and figures of Saints directly below it. Most of the work was done between 1959 and 1961 with only a few final restorations conducted in 1968 (conducted by the state Ateliers for the Conservation of Historical Monuments in Kraków). During the works carried out in the 1960s the whole monument was studied in great detail. Restoration surveys along with laboratory tests revealed the technology and technique of the fresco’s execution. Professor A. Różycka-Bryzek did considerable historical research and discussed his findings in numerous publications. The breadth of the projects provided for the cleaning, stabilizing and protection of the frescoes[14]. The detached plasters were stabilized with lime casein mixture or a dispersion of PVAc (Movilith D) and shored. An interesting and effective manner of fixing should be noted; the nailing was done with the specially produced nails made of an 80% alloy of silver with star shaped heads. The edges of the wall paintings were initially secured with hemp fiber saturated with PVAc dispersion and covered with protective bands made of mortar (lime, crumbled brick, cut hemp fiber)[15]. The proper restoration procedures began only after all of the protective measures were completed; starting with the cleaning of the entire surface with distilled water and finishing with the aesthetic restoration. The manner of displaying the frescoes was altered; the lime-cement-sand plaster filling the gaps of lost parts were all removed. In this manner the unveiled masonry became the background for the paintings. It brought a sense of purity, which was deemed more proper for such a destroyed artefact. As for the paintings – aesthetic intervention was restricted and limited only to these parts where light mortar made the composition illegible. The mortar was integrated in neutral, a bit lighter tone and different in texture from the original[16]. The tests established what technology and techniques were used on the painting[17]. They revealed, for instance, that the original mortar was made with a specially prepared lime with hemp fiber, wood coal, and sawdust filler (from a deciduous tree). The plaster was applied onto the surface, which had to be completed in one day (giornata), its thickness varied from 2-10 millimeters, and the coat was carefully smoothed to obtain a very even texture. It occurred that using this technique it was possible to complete very large parts of the painting – up to a few square meters – during one day [18]. During the tests the presence of protein or carbohydrates was not detected. So, even though the technique was clearly revealed, it was impossible to identify the school or circle of painters represented by the paintings. The frescoes in Wiślica are also deprived of yet another important factor used in historical identification – the finishing coats are preserved only as vestigial remains. The paintings are also atypical in respect to the execution of the preliminary drawings – the composition was painted light brown on wet plaster. It is important data because according to the contemporary painting treatises[19] and the other preserved decorations of the time, the drawing should have been made using tracing paper or by engravings on wet plaster. The most controversial aesthetic issue that arose as soon as the paintings were discovered was how to expose paintings with such extensive losses. Tadeusz Szydłowski and Wojsław Molè discussed it in their paper on Wiślica. The former stated that: Making the walls appear harmonious… will be a very delicate artistic issue. [20]. W. Molè turned his attention to the fact that retouches should be made with great care and that a compromise would be needed – to obey the principles of protection on the one hand and to fulfill the aesthetic requirements of the church interior on the other. He suggested “rounding off”; supplementing the main parts of the compositions and the best-preserved figures with neutral tone[21]. From 1994 – 2000 yet another restoration project was carried out in Wiślica. The person engaged in both projects was professor Władysław Zalewski. The author of this paper also contributed and supervised these works[22]. The works were carried out in stages because of limited financial resources. Even though the previous treatments were completed only 30 years earlier, there were many reasons to restore the frescoes. The entire painting was very dirty, scratched in many parts, and dust had gathered on the uneven surfaces. There was a suspicion that salt accumulated in the mortars. During the restoration in the 1960s the works on the vault were restricted and these parts were not properly investigated. For many years the choir loft was not used; it served as a store for building materials. At the same time the basement of the church was examined and Romanesque engraved paving relics from the 12th Century were found and prepared for display. In 1994 a simple guideline was accepted: to revive order and properly arrange the painted decorations in the choir loft. However plain, it encompassed numerous conservation and restoration issues: from cleaning, to technical conservation of the coats to purely restoration treatments. The works started in the choir and progressed from one bay to the other towards the West. The frescoes were darkened and partially illegible with glares and damp patches. The legibility of the composition was diminished because of the presence of half matte coat, which might have resulted either from crystallized calcium carbonate or from an excess of substances used in former restorations. Retouches caused the composition lightly disintegrate while stains and dirt deposits disturbed the original colours. The stone background of the paintings was questionable as it looked as if it was not finished or somehow omitted during the former restoration. With its prominent single stones of differing textures and colours – the effect greatly detracted from the overall appearance of the whole. Stains and damp patches were visible under sills, especially at the Eastern end of the choir loft. The masonry, mainly of the Northern wall, was supplemented with rough, new stones, which looked harsh. The edges and corners of the stones were chipped in many places. Fillers and joints were of various kinds, they were made of different materials: cement and lime-sand using various fillers which gave them different coulours; they were detached, cracked, crumbled, while joints in the lower, damp parts of the wall, lost their adhesion. Cleaning the surface of the masonry and walls revealed the actual state of preservation of the frescoes. The restoration program was formulated with the main guideline focused on the full technical restoration of the painting layers. Aesthetic intervention was to cover both the painting background and the fresco. Gothic masonry, along with the Romanesque and new stone mounted in the sixties, were arranged. Losses were filled with appropriately coloured and structured filler, integrating individual stone items and their surroundings. Joints, which were in some part filling stone lacunae, were remodeled to revive the proper rhythm of the runs and for the same reason, inappropriate inserted stone was chiseled. Thanks to these measures, the runs were put back into order and the overall warm colouring of the stone wall was restored. There were no doctrinal controversies surrounding whether to revive the original appearance of the wall paintings. This would not be discussed - even if the whole iconography of the decoration could have been recognized. Any reconstruction or integration seemed to present extremely difficult issues with respect to the state of preservation. That is why every part of the damaged painting was individually treated to find an optimal aesthetic solution. This treatment called for exceptional artistic skills, sensitivity and empathy in reading artwork. The basic aim was to make forms legible, at least in the parts where it was possible and where retouches could be completed on justifiable premises. Pin pointing, along with very limited reconstruction of the forms (confined mostly to ‘closing’ interrupted lines or edges), revived legibility of forms; such as heads, robes, halos and architectonic structures. Retouches were made in a manner which did not disturb the historical values of the fresco. The very positive view of Byzantine-Ruthenian wall paintings in Poland is perhaps due to the fact that most have been carefully examined and restored. Only the restoration project in Sandomierz is pending. The wall paintings decorating the Chapel of Holy Trinity in Lublin are a difficult case requiring particular care, with numerous historical obstacles and disturbances. The story of their revealing dates back to the end of the 19th century and continued with short breaks until 1997. During this year, the restoration project was completed and summed up at a conference where presentations were gathered in the conference preprints[23]. In this publication, as well as in many others, Professor Stanisław Stawicki, who was leading the project, discussed in detail the course of the restoration and presented both the technology and technique of executing Byzantine-Ruthenian frescoes. The wall paintings of the Świętkorzyska Chapel in Wawel Cathedral (Kraków) haven’t ever been covered with coats of plaster, but during the last hundred and thirty years, they were subjected to numerous restorations. The works were preceded with historical and restoration research carried out in 1997[24] and the onsite project was completed between 1998 and 2000. During the first stage, cleaning, the main difficulty was identification of certain strata which resulted from their poor state of preservation, with some parts being decomposed. The finishing layers were seriously damaged and in common with Wiślica, they were partially missing. The range of reconstruction was broad, as it was justified by the preserved historical data. The reconstruction added to the aesthetic appearance of the whole decoration[25]. Amongst the group of above mentioned churches, the best and most perfectly preserved are the wall paintings in the choir of the cathedral in Sandomierz. The pending restoration focuses the attention of art restorers and scholars. The visible paintings were executed on top of the earlier decoration, which they had entirely covered. At the beginning of the 20th century, they were entirely overpainted following the depicted forms. Such treatment was accepted as an appropriate manner of restoration of wall paintings at that time. No doubt, the results of examinations will be published in the near future as the project will soon be completed. The lack of Byzantine-Ruthenian wall paintings in Ukraine, which has been noted by many scholars, is remarkable. Thus preserved artifacts in the territory of present day Poland are even more valuable. All discoveries of paintings of a similar era reported in Ukraine attract attention. One of the few examples are the paintings in the Orthodox Church in Lużany by Czernowiec[26], which have been unveiled and restored in 2008. They seem to have much in common with decorations in Poland. It’s worth mentioning that the activities of the Orthodox Church were transferred to Western Poland (Lower Silesia) as a result of the deportation of the south-eastern Lemko population carried out after the Second World War during ‘Operation Wisła’. Modern Orthodox wall paintings may be also found in gothic churches such as Rudna near Lubin. ----------------------------------------------------------- [1] Russia gathered importance as the centre of the Orthodox Church after the Fall of the Byzantine Empire (1543) with Moscow became patriarchate (1589). The first auto-cefalic Orthodox temples were built on the Balkan Peninsula and in Central-Eastern Europe as late as the 19th and 20th Centuries. Z. Szanter, Ikony z pogranicza, Spotkania z Zabytkami, Vol 5, 1989, pp. 7-11. [2] M. Różycka-Bryzek, Bizantyjsko-ruskie malowidła ścienne w kolegiacie wiślickiej, Foliae Historiae Artium, Vol. II, Kraków 1965, pp. 47-81. During the restoration project carried in the last years in the Mariacka Chapel in the Wawel Cathedral, led by Professor Władysław Zalewski, the fragments of Byzantine-Ruthenian frescoes were revealed. Their presence was verified thorugh historical sources. [3] This is a very important remark for this notion influenced the manner of working out the vestigial preserved scenes during restorations carried out in Kraków, Lublin and in Sandomierz. [4] An icon created according to the rules of the obligatory canon is a source of spiritual experience; it is a vehicle of transpersonal encounter with the represented archetype. The inspiration of European painting was entirely different. The depictions and representations pictured had a different aim. It was initially more narrative and gradually became the way of expressing emotions. During the first stage, painting was a source of sensual sensitivity, which led during the second stage to spiritual experiences. For this reason, the two types of beauty (Catholic and Orthodox) cannot be compared. So, when we want to discuss the achievements of painting in both East and West, when we want to evaluate them somehow, we cannot focus on aesthetic principles, for their inspirations varied. In the East it was “reading” while in the West “looking at”. So when we evaluate sacral art, we should look at its spiritual context, the numinous One which is a non-rational, non-sensory experience or feeling, whose primary and immediate object is outside the self and not only in its visual aspects. There is an opinion that sacral art had its greatest achievements in icon painting. This cannot easily be accepted by a Western art historian, who would emphasise the emotions generated by western pictures, which surpasses those generated by icons. For the Orthodox worshipper, a beautiful and moving art work is not that which moves or appeals to emotions, but one which will lead him to transcendental awareness through the archetypes of representation. : Zofia Szanter, Ikony z pogranicza, … op.cit. [5] S. Stawicki, Przyczynki do historii ściennych malowideł bizantyjsko-ruskich w Polsce. Technika i konserwacja, Ochrona Zabytków No 1 (184) 1994, p. 20. [6] This church was knocked down but it had been raised on the ruins of the earlier one built with anhydrous gypsum plaster. At the basement of the Gothic temple there is an engraved paving dated to 1175. [7] W. Zalewski, Konserwacja fresków w kolegiacie wiślickiej, Ochrona Zabytków, No 3, 1968, pp. 45-51; M. Orkisz, J. Styrna, Dokumentacja konserwatorska, Wiślica – kolegiata, (Documentation of Restoration Works), Pracownie Konserwacji Zabytków Oddział w Krakowie, Kraków 1974. [8] Wall paintings on the side walls were revealed with all care but it was unavoidable not to scratch the surfaces detached during the cannonade, T. Szydłowski, O odbudowie kolegiaty wiślickiej, Ochrona Zabytków, No 1- 4, 1930 - 1931, p. 94. [9] ibidem [10] The other method was nailing with readymade nails straighten with cross-shape onlays cut in metal plate, W. Zalewski, op. cit., p. 48, see also W. Molè, Kilka uwag o malowidłach ściennych w Wiślicy, Ochrona Zabytków Sztuki, No 1- 4, 1930 - 1931, p. 100. [11] W. Zalewski, op. cit. [12] ibidem. [13] M. Orkisz, J. Styrna, op.cit. [14] The treatments proved to be very effective which was testified in the nineties, they called for technical intervention only in limited degree. [15] W. Zalewski, op. cit. [16] W. Zalewski, op. cit. [17] The part of the Restoration Documentation is „Technical documentation” (unknown author) consisting of 12 pages of typescript, it documents: I. Cross section of the layers, II. Examinations of plaster, III. Examinations of painting layers . [18] Ruthenian frescoes differ from other frescoes in the manner of the plaster preparation. Slake lime… that had been covered with water for six weeks (although adequately ventilated)... the crystallized coat of calcium carbonate was collected daily… this type of lime was used by fresco painters for the finishing coat of plaster which allowed them to prolong the time of painting (e.g up to two days, while in Italian fresco it was eight hours). M. Orkisz, J. Styrna, op.cit. [19] e.g. “Hermeneia” by Dionysius. [20] T. Szydłowski, op. cit., p. 94 [21] W. Molè, op.cit., p. 100 [22] Professor Władysław Zalewski from the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts has been directly involved in restoration of Byzantine-Ruthenian frescoes for many years. He took part in the restoration projects in Wiślica from 1959-1968 and led the project from 1994-2000. Since 1997 he has been leading the restoration projects in the Świętokrzyska Chapel and Mariacka Chapel, both in the Wawel Cathedral. At present he is taking part in the restoration project in Sandomierz. [23] Kaplica Trójcy Świętej na Zamku Lubelskim, Historia, teologia, sztuka, konserwacja, edited by Muzeum Lubelskie w Lublinie, 1999. [24] W. Zalewski, Malowidło bizantyjsko-ruskie, Biuletyn Informacyjny Konserwatorów Dzieł Sztuki, Vol. 9, No 3 (34) 1998, pp. 2-15. [25] W. Zalewski, A. Mamoń, Kaplica Świętokrzyska w katedrze wawelskiej, Renowacje No 3, 2000, pp. 67-71. [26] Data and photographs were available thanks to courtesy of the art restorer involved in the project - Igor Zamoyski dytować.
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