The Author presents several methodological aspects referring to photographs as historical sources. In this article it is viewed as an iconographic source. The problem of photographs as iconographic sources is discussed in the context of historical semantics and theory of historical presence.

The variety of forms of Medieval landscapes reflects the political and social situation of European territories in the period between the fifth and the fifteenth century. From a contemporary point of view, we are dealing with a number of distinct types of landscape objects in European areas, such as 1. Medieval fortresses (castles); 2. residential settlements, including cities, towns and villages; 3. abbeys and smaller monasteries; 4. churches in open landscapes and pilgrimage centres; 5. areas of agriculture; 6. garden compositions; 7. specifically Polish relics of the past such as early-Medieval gords.

ABSTRACT:

The purpose of this article is to determine the origins of the enigmatic image appearing on a Silesian bracteate of the Rataje type (Fbg 70). The image has recently been interpreted as radiating circles of light and its symbols associated with St John the Baptist, whose figure appears on Silesian coins relatively often. While analysing the numismatic material, the author focuses on two types of coins which may have served as the model for the Silesian bracteate: half-bracteate from Hedeby, issued in all probability during the reign of Harald Bluetooth (958–987) and the Celtic stater, struck in Lesser Poland (or in Silesia) in the first third of the 1st century BC.

SUMMARY:

One Silesian bracteate from the Rataje group (the issue from 1220–1240) features an image which should be interpreted as radiating circles of light (fig. 1). A closer analysis allows the conclusion that such an interpretation might be based on the Prologue to John’s Gospel, where John the Baptist is associated with the symbolism of light (J 1, 4–9). In the text, Christ’s predecessor is presented as the witness to the Light, heralding the arrival of the Saviour.

While looking for the model, the creator of the die of the Rataje bracteate may have relied on, one might arrive at two alternative solutions. The first one may be related to the half-bracteates struck in Hedeby, associated with the first half of the 10th century and sometimes with the times of Harald Bluetooth’s rule (958–987) (fig. 3), which were, in turn, modelled on Charles the Great’s pennies, struck in Dorestad approximately until the year 790 (fig. 2). Younger half-bracteates from Hedeby, coined in the second half of the 10th century appear both in Pomeranian (such as Gralewo II, Rybice or Świnoujście–Przytór) and Silesian finds (Bystrzyca, Gębice, Kotowice II and Radzików II). Hence, it is possible that they served as the model for the Silesian bracteate in the era of advanced renewal, necessitating frequent changes in the appearance of the dies.

The other solution would identify Celtic staters of the Cracow type as the model for the Rataje bracteate. The coins minted in Lesser Poland from around 100 BC to around 30 AD were described by Marcin Rudnicki in 2012. On some specimens, classified by the scholar as group I, representing “the earliest, prototype variants of the Cracow type” and dated by him to the period from around 100 to around 70 BC, the elements of the die form a composition significantly similar to the image on the Rataje bracteate. Although the Cracow type staters have not been recorded in Silesia, there is no doubt that the coins reached the region, a fact confirmed by their occurrence in Central Poland as well as in Bohemia, Slovakia and as far as in the Zagreb area.

Using the Celtic stater as the iconographic model for the Silesian bracteate might have been connected with the so-called “heads” or “St John pennies”. The name, appearing in sources from 1445 onwards, although certainly used in Poland much earlier, was given to Roman coins, found mainly in Polish lands, whose obverse featured the emperor’s head (identified with the severed head of John the Baptist). It is possible that the notion of “St John’s pennies” designated also other ancient coins. This fact, as well as original iconography, may have influenced the use of the transformed motif from the Celtic coin obverse on the die of the Silesian bracteate. Owing to the rays, the composition may have been associated with the symbolism of light, closely connected with the patron of Silesia and emphasised by the liturgy at the time.

This article is an attempt to outline a model of spiritual iconography. The main purpose of the article is to justify the thesis that this model appears to be formulated in the statements of a Moscow icon painter: A. Sokolov (died 2015). Initially, we assume that an icon has four main aspects: ecclesiastical (related to worship), theological, spiritual, and artistic, which closely relate to each other and determine its essence – iconicity. According to them, we can distinguish four models of iconography: each contains the whole iconicity, but each of them is dominated by a different dimension of it. On this basis, we assume the existence of a model built on the dominance of the spiritual element – a model that interprets iconography as spirituality. In order to show that this model is implemented by iconography as interpreted by Sokolow, we show that it has the structural features of spirituality. To this end, we refer to contemporary interpretations of ancient philosophy, which see it as spirituality (P. Hadot, M. Foucault); from them we draw the structural features of spirituality and indicate them in Sokolov’s formulations on iconography.

In the early modern period, there were around 40 religious confraternities in the agglomeration of Cracow, one of the oldest and most important being the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary at the Dominican Church of the Holy Trinity. It is not known when it was founded, but it was probably already operating in the late Middle Ages. In 1600, this confraternity, existing “ab immemorabilis tempore”, was reformed by Fr. Abraham Bzowski, who on this occasion prepared and published an extensive dissertation, having the character of its “statutes”. From 4 February 1601 the seat of the renewed confraternity was in the Chapel of the Three Kings, at the far end of the northern nave of the church. It contained the Brotherhood’s altar which was transferred, probably after 1688, to the church of St. Giles and placed on the altar’s stone in the apse of the presbytery. The altar contained the holy picture of the Virgin Mary of the Salus Populi Romani type, connected by tradition established in the first half of the 17th century with Pope Clement VIII, who was to grant it indulgences. Bernard Maciejowski, then Bishop of Łuck, later Bishop of Cracow and finally Primate, is considered as the donor of the painting. Every first Sunday in October, the Cracow copy of the Roman image was carried out by the brothers out of the chapel and in a solemn procession around the Main Square. This custom was linked to the victory of the Christian fleet over the Turkish one near Lepanto in 1571, after which Pope Pius V established its liturgical memory (7 October). In Poland, this tradition gained a new dimension after to the successful defence of the Chocim fortress against the Turks in 1621. The devotion to the Rosary was cultivated not only in the Brotherhood’s chapel, but also in the Conventual Church, where the altar of the Holy Rosary stood to the left of the choir entrance. Symmetrically to it, on the right side of the rainbow arcade stood the altar of the Confraternity of the Holy Name of Jesus, founded in 1585 by Fr. Bartłomiej of Przemyśl. Its aim was to eradicate the sinful custom of swearing oaths, and because of the connections with the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary it was called the Archconfraternity of the Rosary of the Most Holy Name of Jesus. The spreading of the rosary prayer by the Order went beyond the Conventual Church. A special role in this work was played by the Gothic Church of St. Giles, which the Dominicans took under their protection in 1588. An important caesura in the history of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Rosary was the move to a new spacious oratory, which was erected on the site of the medieval Chapel of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the far end of the southern nave of the church. One of the reasons for undertaking this new work is considered to be the desire to commemorate the victory of John III Sobieski over the Turks at Vienna on 12 September 1683. The opulent decor and interesting ideological programme have only partially survived, but they can be reconstructed on the basis of preserved written sources, as can be the character of the Brotherhood’s celebrations. Particularly interesting monuments include those connected with the so-called Century of the Rosary, established with the consent of Pope Innocent XII (1694). It was a congregation of 100 brothers and 100 sisters, whose task was to pray continuously for the souls suffering in Purgatory. Among other things, a book of this association has been preserved, which contains illuminations showing the salutary effects of the prayer of the Rosary.

Benedykt Roszkowski, a reformed friar from the Order of Reformed Friars Minor (Reformati) in the Greater Poland province ( Wielkopolska), became famous as a religious preacher (sermoniser). He held this position for twenty-one years, in various centres of the province, and held the ministry of guardian a number of times. He was also a member of provincial government in the form of secretary and definitor (1779–1782) as well as fulfilling the role of custodian or provincial deputy (1785–1788). The friar also helped create settings for church ceremonies.
This article discusses Roszkowski’s hitherto unknown manuscript containing a description of the artistic settings of six funeral ceremonies that took place in the Reformati Churches during the years 1758–1762. The descriptions were illustrated with the friar’s own watercolours depicting the theatrum created during funeral ceremonies. The document, written in Latin, was made between 1762 and 1764 as Roszkowski’s gift to the Provincial Superior of Greater Poland, Father Dionizy Sydry. His descriptions include the funeral of the Crown Oboźnina (wife of the Crown Great Camp Leader) Teresa Teofila Lipska née Dąbska, and the funeral rites in memory of the Oboźny (Crown Great Camp Leader) Prokop Lipski in the Reformati Church in Poznań (1758); the funeral of the Master of the Hunt’s wife from Wschowa, Zofia Gorzyńska, in the Reformati Church in Miejska Górka (1761); the exequies of Zofia Puklatecka in the Reformati Church in Poznań (1762); the funeral of Brygida Czapska née Działyńska, the wife of the Malbork voivode, in the Reformed Church in Pakość, and the funeral rites in the parish church in Konarzewo (1762). For all these funerals, the friar designed both the interior of the church and the castrum doloris placed in the centre. The baldachin-type castrum doloris dominated: on a multi-step platform (sometimes taking the shape of a fortress with bastions) with a raised coffin were figures of Virtues or personifications, and on its sides were obelisks in the form of rocaille or decorative columns crowned with busts of Virtues. The whole structure was topped with a hanging fabric baldachin. In such artistic settings, the friar combined heraldic content with references to both the Bible and mythology. With the informal character of its descriptions, this manuscript differs from the occasional prints published by Roszkowski. Not only does the friar specify the material from which individual elements were made, but he also demonstrates the real context of their presentation. It is the first time we find in one document the descriptions of so many elements of the pompa funebris, along with their visual representations, made by a man who was artist, designer and preacher in one. These various aspects make Roszkowski’s work a special source for research on the funeral culture of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, one which finds no equal.

The county of Spiš, consisting of enclaves within the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary, ethnically and religiously diverse, frequently administered by eminent personalities and situated on an important trade route, has played an important political and economic role over the centuries. The pawned towns of Spiš, which were never bought back, were the subject of claims by the southern neighbours of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until they were cut off from it in 1769 by a sanitary cordon imposed by the Imperial army. The return of the thirteen Spiš towns and the dominion of the Lubelsko-Podolinieckie province to the Kingdom of Hungary is a well-known occurrence, but tracing the detailed course of this process requires further research, in particular archival research.
Bearing testament to this turbulent period are the documents preserved in Vienna’s Österreichisches Staatsarchiv related to żupan Jan Csáky de Keresztseg. The article discusses a letter from Jan Nepomucen Kirschner, parish priest in Żakowce, which describes the church decorations in major towns in the former starosty on the occasion of its incorporation into Hungary in November 1772. According to the brief account of Father Kirschner, the altars in the churches were adorned with Hungarian crowns and inscriptions citing biblical verses. Also mentioned is other archival material from the collection, which may enrich our knowledge of the course of these celebrations, such as the texts of the żupan’s speech and the townspeople’s oaths, as well as of those pieces composed in honour of Csáky, Maria Theresa and Joseph II.
The discussed documents are a rare example of Spiš archival material containing descriptions of the decorations for a state ceremony in this area. According to the narrative of the ceremonial programme, the moment of incorporation of the thirteen towns and Lubowelski dominion into the Hungarian county is a triumph of justice – the lost parts of Spiš return to their rightful rulers, whose good governance will ensure peace and stability for the inhabitants of the region. The form and ideological message of the various elements of the ceremonial setting (both visual and literary) was relatively simple, probably in order to adapt it to the needs of the mass audience taking the oath of allegiance to the new authorities.

The subject area of the cult of images regarded as miraculous during the Old Polish period has long enjoyed the interest of scholars, who analysed it in historical, theological, religious, artistic or social terms. This applies to both single images (usually paintings) as well as to syntheses including selected groups of cult objects. The crowned pictures are of greatest interest, of course, but relatively little space has been devoted to local Marian centres. The aim of this article is to draw attention to eighteenth-century ceremonies involving miraculous paintings in the former Bełsk Province, especially in the local sanctuaries. Three ceremonies have been analysed: the coronation of the miraculous painting of Our Lady of Sokal, and ceremonies with the participation of the miraculous paintings of Our Lady of Łopatyn and Our Lady of Tartaków. The lack in the literature of a precise description of the course of the coronation of the miraculous Our Lady of Sokal picture has so far made general conclusions difficult.

Many academic works fundamental to Polish numismatics, from the earliest time to the modern period, were published in the second half of the 19th century. The subject of the present article is an analysis of the illustration–related aspects of those works as well as some other minor publications. The author describes the most commonly used graphic techniques (across–the–end–grain wood engraving, lithography, copper engraving, etching), mentions the prominent engravers and graphic artists, and presents a number of ateliers/workshops which carried out commissions connected with numismatics. The objective of the text is to identify and describe certain characteristic regularities as well as some special features relating to the field of numismatic printmaking.

The Fbg 70 Silesian bracteate bears an unusual depiction that – in the authors’ opinion – has not yet been satisfactorily explained. They thereby present here a completely new interpretation of this imagery, tracing it back to, on one hand, the traditions of earlier Silesian issues and on the other to the earliest, openwork pilgrim badges from the Amiens sanctuary, which depict the reliquary of the head of St. John the Baptist. They also suggest that some features of this depiction might be inspired directly by the said reliquary without the pilgrim badges as an intermediary. The Fbg 70 bracteate would therefore constitute only the second known example of a Polish coin depicting a reliquary – the first being the type 1 deniers of Bolesław IV the Curly. The authors suggest that the Amiens reliquary might also be depicted on other Silesian coins, for example on the Fbg 74 bracteate.

One of the most important functions of 18th-century occasional decorations was to communicate current political issues. The artistic setting of ceremonies related to political events can of course be analyzed as an independent entity but may also be studied as a fragment of a larger message that encompasses prints, literature and political ceremony.
The present article will adopt the latter approach, and analyze the political message of the 1750s on the subject of the division of the Entail of Ostrog, resulting from the so-called “Transaction of Kolbuszowa” in 1753. This event, which had a huge impact on political relations of the time, was also of key importance to the chief players of the period as well as their artistic initiatives (for example J. K. Branicki, who became the Great Crown Hetman after Józef Potocki’s death). The theme of the Entail of Ostrog can be seen in the artistic settings of ceremonies related to the activities of the Senatorial Commission, as well as in those related to two terms of the Crown Tribunal, which in 1754 and 1755 was overshadowed by the consequences of the Kolbuszowa transaction. The above-mentioned bodies acted on behalf of the entire Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; therefore, ideas of political unity and total consensus were emphasized in the decorations. In this way, specific decisions were legitimized. Occasional decorations made reference to the Gigantomachy, understood as an internal conflict, and stressed the importance of overcoming internal enemies for the sake of state unity. Banquets were also of great importance in conveying this message, not only because participation alone was seen as a manifestation of belonging to a certain community, but also because the ideological content of the table decorations presented the political values of the guests and served as a commentary on current political issues.

The year 1933, which marked the 15th anniversary of Polish independence, also saw the celebrations of the 400th birthday of Stefan Batory and the 250th anniversary of the Relief of Vienna led by King Jan III Sobieski. Both events allowed for a wide campaign of propaganda for the Sanation movement’s updated political programme, clad in historical analogies, especially in the context of Eastern policy. For this reason, the ceremonies organized in the Borderlands, a particular lieux de mémoire associated with great kings, who were seen in official historical politics as natural harbingers of Józef Piłsudski, took on a special character. This provided an excellent opportunity for the propaganda of the Polish civilizing mission in the East and the promotion of the idea of Poland as a superpower. The main ceremonies commemorating Stefan Batory were organized in Grodno, where the monarch died in the historic castle in 1586. These celebrations, broadcast by radio and widely reported by the press, were attended by President Ignacy Mościcki and many national and local dignitaries, ministers, senators, deputies, voivodes, bishops, generals etc. Lavish occasional decorations, saturated with specific symbolism, were set up as modernized late 16th-century architectural stylizations. The activities of the Grodno Castle reconstruction committee were officially inaugurated on the 350th anniversary of Batory’s death. Even more magnificent were the two-day festivities commemorating the Victory at Vienna organized in Olesko, which overshadowed the central celebrations in Kraków. The programme of the ceremony proclaimed that “a deed of European importance – by King Jan III and the then-superpower Poland – must be reflected by a programme of celebrations of its 250-year anniversary on a superpower scale”. An extensive open-air spectacle was organized with the participation of thousands of extras, including soldiers in historical costumes, several hundred fire brigades, scouts and aviation squadrons. Particularly spectacular was the especially arranged musical performance combined with night illuminations. These celebrations were enhanced by other accompanying events such as the Star Automobile and Motorcycle Rally and the sightseeing rally On the Trail of Sobieski. In other Borderland towns such as Tarnopol the jubilee was celebrated on a smaller scale, where a number of outdoor events were organized under the umbrella name Harvest Festival of King Jan III and the Arrival of the Austrian Emperor’s Legation with a Request for the Relief of Vienna.

The article discusses the artistic setting of the largest religious ceremony of the beginning of the 20th century, the coronation of the icon of Our Lady of Consolation in the Church of St. Peter and Paul in Lviv. The painting itself was considered to be one of the palladiums of the city, as in 1656, during the Swedish Deluge, the papal nuncio Vidoni first uttered the call to the “Queen of the Polish Crown” in front of this Marian image, in the presence of King Jan Kazimierz and the court.
In 1904, on the occasion of the jubilee of the announcement of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Marian Congress took place in Lviv, and in that same year the decision was made to create new crowns for the painting of the Mother of God and Baby Jesus. A committee, composed of representatives from the aristocracy and bourgeoisie of the city, was set up to raise the appropriate funds, and the then Archbishop of Lviv, Józef Bilczewski, was asked to perform the solemn coronation. An artistic and technical committee was also established, which included the architect Teodor Talowski (chairman), Antoni Popiel, Andrzej Romaszkan, Tadeusz Czapelski and Karol Richtmann, who made the decision to transform the altar where the painting was placed and to convert the area of the church bay into a distinct chapel. The works were led by Karol Richtmann, the altar was renovated by the painter Karol Domański, and the new bronze antependium was designed by Antoni Popiel. The bolt with the depiction of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception was made by the sculptor Piotr Wójtowicz. The icon of the Virgin Mary itself was restored by Henryk Kühn. The chapel vault was decorated with paintings by Tadeusz Popiel, and its space was separated from the rest of the church by a grid made according to a project by Alfred Zachariewicz. Antoni Popiel designed golden crowns and a new dress for the figures of the Mother of God and Baby Jesus, made by the goldsmith and jeweller Jan Wojtych. The Committee also commissioned new stained glass windows for the chapel from the Kraków workshop of Stanisław Ekielski and Antoni Tuch. The main work was completed in July 1905.
On 12 February 1905, a coronation decree was issued in Rome, and Archbishop Bilczewski was appointed to perform the coronation act. On 28 April 1905, another decree was issued recognizing the antiquity and miraculousness of the painting, and the ceremony was scheduled for 28th May.
The church façade, side elevation and interior were decorated extensively, while the focal point was prepared for receiving the painting – “The Gothic golden throne with motifs from the tomb of Kazimierz the Great”. The decorations were designed by Stanisław Jasieński, a renowned painter and theatre decorator of the time. The streets and squares which the coronation procession went through were also adorned. The ceremony was very carefully planned and directed; it was attended by the clergy of the three Christian rites, local authorities and representatives of all social strata. When analyzing the coronation ceremonies, it is important to underline their considerable reliance on the schemes of coronations of Marian images which took place on Polish territory in the 18th century. The tradition of the last Marian coronation, of a painting from the Dominican Church in Lviv in 1751, was strongly referred to and accentuated in occasional prints that accompanied this solemn act. The reference to old Polish coronations can be seen in numerous occasional prints, in reporting on the course of the ceremony, as well as in the extensive descriptions and texts of sermons published. This ceremony had an exceptional social and national dimension, as it was the first such coronation in the former Polish lands since the loss of independence, and the most important ceremony before the outbreak of the First World War. Not without significance in this context was the underlined similarity of forms between the coronation throne and the canopy over the tombstone of Kazimierz the Great in the Kraków Cathedral, or the calling of one crown as Kazimierzowska and the other Jagiellońska. The new artistic remodeling of the Chapel of Our Lady in the Jesuit Church was a prelude to the renovation of the remaining altars in the church. The coronation ceremony and the restoration of the chapel gathered together the most important artists of the early 19th century working for the Church patronage in the capital of Galicia. The chapel designed by Teodor Talowski successfully combines an 18th-century retabulum with paintings by Tadeusz Popiel, being probably the last example of a true Baroque bel composto.