Skały w architekturze podkrakowskich kościołów romańskich
Abstract
Rocks applied in the architecture of the Romanesque churches of the northern suburbs
of Kraków.
Ab s t r a c t. There are a few Romanesque churches (12th to mid of 13th century) located iin the close suburbs north of Krakow which are not well known nor described, in contrast to the churches of this age located within the city. Three of them were the subject to the present study. All three churches are located close to each other, but the local geology and available building stones are different. The Romanesque walls of the Church in Prandocin are built of calcareous sandstone of light grayish shade (Neogene). Their exposures and probable past mining sites are located a few kilometers to the north of the church. Stone blocks are very neatly shaped and fitted, so the joints are smooth and very narrow. The church in Wysocice is built mainly of a local compact, white to grayish limestone with cherts (Upper Jurassic), with horizontal stripes made of a porous gray travertine (Quaternary?) adapted to retaining the wall. Sculptures are carved of a soft lithotamnium limestone (Pińczów, Leithakalk; Neogene). Both the compact Jurassic limestone and the soft Pińczów limestone are applied in the church of Kościelec Proszowicki. Decorative sculptures and carvings are made exclusively of the Pińczów limestone. The works in all three places were performed by masonry guilds, which searched for and quarried an appropriate stone material and treated it. Stonemasons had apparently high qualifications for selecting an appropriate material which, on one hand, fulfilled aesthetical requirements of the founder and, on the other, guaranteed durability of the whole structure.
of Kraków.
Ab s t r a c t. There are a few Romanesque churches (12th to mid of 13th century) located iin the close suburbs north of Krakow which are not well known nor described, in contrast to the churches of this age located within the city. Three of them were the subject to the present study. All three churches are located close to each other, but the local geology and available building stones are different. The Romanesque walls of the Church in Prandocin are built of calcareous sandstone of light grayish shade (Neogene). Their exposures and probable past mining sites are located a few kilometers to the north of the church. Stone blocks are very neatly shaped and fitted, so the joints are smooth and very narrow. The church in Wysocice is built mainly of a local compact, white to grayish limestone with cherts (Upper Jurassic), with horizontal stripes made of a porous gray travertine (Quaternary?) adapted to retaining the wall. Sculptures are carved of a soft lithotamnium limestone (Pińczów, Leithakalk; Neogene). Both the compact Jurassic limestone and the soft Pińczów limestone are applied in the church of Kościelec Proszowicki. Decorative sculptures and carvings are made exclusively of the Pińczów limestone. The works in all three places were performed by masonry guilds, which searched for and quarried an appropriate stone material and treated it. Stonemasons had apparently high qualifications for selecting an appropriate material which, on one hand, fulfilled aesthetical requirements of the founder and, on the other, guaranteed durability of the whole structure.