A must-visit place for any history lover.
20.01.2015The Sigismund Chapel, also known as the Royal, Rorantist and Jagiellonian Chapel, of the Assumption of Mary and St. Barbara ? one of the 19 chapels surrounding Wawel Cathedral. NotMieckian art historian A. Essenwein (19th century) called it the pearl of the Renaissance from this side of the Alps. It is an example of Florentine Renaissance architecture outside Italy. After the death of Queen Barbara Zapolya, the first wife of Sigismund I the Old, the shaken king decided to build her and his family a mausoleum. Florentine artist Bartolommeo Berrecci was brought in to carry out the king's intentions, and in 1517 he presented the first plans for the chapel. The foundations were laid in 1519 after the demolition of Casimir the Great's 14th-century chapel. The actual construction was carried out in the years 1524 (when the walls were built) to 1531. The copper dome (including the cross and the angel carrying it) was built in 1526.The consecration took place in 1533.The lower part is built on a square plan. On it rests an octagonal drum, supporting an elliptical dome topped with a lantern. The roof of the dome is covered with gilded copper tiles in the shape of fish scales. The architectural divisions are marked by pilasters set on a high pedestal and supporting a prominent cornice. The chapel's design is an independent work by Berrecci, with no exact counterpart in Italy. The closest analogy is provided by one of Leonardo da Vinci's drawings. In the central niches of the arcaded walls were placed: an altar to the east, opposite the tomb of Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II Augustus, against the south wall a throne bench. In the side niches of the arcaded walls were placed statues of saints: Peter, Paul, Wenceslas, Florian, John the Baptist and Sigismund. Below them are medallions with busts of the four evangelists, as well as Solomon and David. Solomon was given the facial features of Sigismund I, David ? Seweryn Boner, the steward of the royal estate in charge of the construction of the chapel. The walls are profusely covered with ornamental decoration consisting of arabesques, grotesques with mythological motifs and panoplies. In the interior of the dome are stone rosette coffers. The lantern bears the letters of the inscription: BARTHOLOMEO FLORENTINO OPIFICE, immortalizing the name of the chapel's creator. Originally, the arcaded niche housed only the tombstone of Sigismund I the Old, while he was still alive (d. 1548). After the death of Sigismund II Augustus, this sarcophagus was raised, placing under it a carved coffin with a statue of the last of the Jagiellons, a foundation of his sister, Anna. The statue of Sigismund the Old in the position of waking from sleep was made (and undoubtedly designed) by Berrecci himself. The statue of Sigismund Augustus was sculpted by Santi Gucci, a Cracovian mannerist who came from Florence. The tombstone monument became the model for many tombstones of magnates and nobles in Poland. His influence can also be found in other tombstones in the cathedral. The bench dates from 1527-1529, with a crown supported by two angels cast in bronze by Berrecci. The original front of the bench was replaced by a marble tombstone of Queen Anne Jagiellon (d. 1596) chiseled by Santi Gucci while she was still alive, probably around 1583. Funded by Sigismund the Old, the open altarpiece is a collective work of Nuremberg artists from 1531-1538, made according to a general design by Hans Dürer. The bas-reliefs of the open altarpiece, with scenes from Mary's life, were forged in silver by Melchior Baier with the help of casts by Pankracy Labenwolf, based on wooden models by Peter Flötner. The wings of the closed altarpiece, with scenes of the Passion of Christ, were painted by Jerzy Pencz.
04.07.2013
