Wawel Cathedral of Saints Stanislaus and Wenceslaus is among the buildings of greatest significance in Polish history. Archcathedral Basilica of St. Stanislaus and St. WenceslausIn Cracow ? cathedral church, located on Wawel Hill. The place of coronation of the kings of Poland and their eternal resting place. Buried here are St. Stanislaus of Szczepanów and other bishops of Cracow up to modern times, kings from Wladyslaw I the Elbow High to Augustus II the Strong (a total of 19 kings) and members of royal families, as well as great leaders and national soothsayers. Wawel the seat of kings, a symbol of Polish statehood. The Renaissance residence (after reconstruction during the reign of Sigismund the Old) holds national relics, including the Szczerbiec, and Adam Mickiewicz and Tadeusz Kosciuszko rest next to the rulers in the cathedral. It is the coronation cathedral of the kings of Poland, their eternal resting place. Buried here are St. Stanislaus of Szczepanów and other bishops of Cracow up to the present day, kings from Wladyslaw I Lokietek to Augustus II the Strong (a total of 19 kings) and members of royal families, as well as great leaders and bards Jozef Poniatowski, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Slowacki, Jozef Pilsudski, Wladyslaw Sikorski. The cathedral, built of brick and white limestone, is a three-nave basilica with a transept, chancel and ambit. In the 18th century, as a result of the elevation of the side aisles and the ambit, the temple lost its uniform basilica character. Over the centuries, a wreath of chapels from different style periods was erected around the Gothic body. The cathedral is separated from the outer courtyard by a wall with three Baroque gates, which were created by Jan Treano in 1619 with the foundation of Bishop Piotr Tylicki. The cathedral is surrounded by three towers. To the north is the Sigismund Tower, with the famous "Sigismund" bell. Taller than it is the Clock Tower, topped with a Baroque helmet by Kacper Bażanka, while on the south side is the third, called the Vicar Tower or Silver Bells Tower, because the bells hanging there contain an admixture of silver. Facade The facade of the cathedral has retained its original appearance mainly in the upper part, which features a rosette in the window and a statue of St. Stanislaus ? a 19th-century copy of the original one (exhibited at the "Wawel Lost" exhibition), made by Zygmunt Langman. In the 15th century, two chapels were added to the cathedral, which on either side of the portal have two embedded bas-reliefs: of St. Margaret and St. Michael Archangel in battle with a dragon. At the staircase to the cathedral, the bones of diluvial animals are hung on the wall of the Holy Trinity Chapel. Above the entrance is a baroque canopy from the 17th century. The Baroque portal from 1636-1639 preserves the door, clad in sheet metal (14th century), with the repeated initial of Casimir the Great ? letter K. Adjoining the cathedral to the north are buildings, including the chapter house, the cathedral treasury and the chapter library. The stone late-Gothic building of white blocks was erected between 1481 and 1500 at the expense of Bishop Jan Rzeszowski as the cathedral treasury room. Adjoining the 14th-century walls are the chapterhouse and library buildings. The oldest part of them was founded at the beginning of the 15th century by the Duchess of Ziebice for the chapter house as a residential building, which was only rebuilt into a chapter house a century later. In 1775, part of the interior was converted into a library and archive. Plaque commemorating the Sigismund Bell The second largest of the cathedral towers, it was erected in the 2nd half of the 14th century as a defensive tower within the fortifications. In 1520 it was converted into a bell tower by hanging the Sigismund bell, funded by King Sigismund I the Old. Other bells hanging in the tower are: Cardinal (dated 1445), Urban (dated 1460), Semizygmunt (dated 1463) and Stanislaus (dated 1751). It is covered by a helmet, designed by Slawomir Odrzywolski in 1897 - 1898. Clock Tower It was built in the early 15th century on the ground floor of a former Romanesque tower. It is now covered by a Baroque cupola designed by architect Kacper Bażanka, commissioned by Bishop Kazimierz Łubieński (1715 - 1716). The corners feature statues of four saints: Casimir, Wenceslaus, Stanislaus and Adalbert. Southern elevation Among its many chapels is the Sigismund Chapel, covered with a gilded dome, and the Vasa Chapel, an architectural copy of the Sigismund Chapel. At the foot of the tower of the Silver Bells is the exit of the royal tombs, covered with a canopy from the 1930s. Among other things, jade columns from the former Orthodox church in Warsaw were used for the canopy. On the granite floor are coats of arms of the Polish lands. Tower of the Silver Bells Also called the Vicarage Tower. The ground floor (up to 12 meters high) comes from the second cathedral (the so-called Hermansky) from the 12th century.It houses three bells: Maciek (1699), Nowak (16th century) and Gaworek (1496). There is a significant admixture of silver in the bronze of these bells (hence the name Silver Bells Tower). Cathedral inside Presbytery with Piast vault over the main altar St. Stanislaus Confession The interior appearance of the cathedral differs from its original state. The short nave has formed a separate space since the St. Stanislaus mausoleum was set in the transept in the 17th century. The ambits, baroqueized in the 17th and 18th centuries, have lost their medieval character. The core of the architecture, however, retained its Gothic features. The nave and chancel, separated from the side aisles and the ambit by pointed arches, are covered with cross-ribbed vaults. In the eastern part of the chancel there is a tripartite vault (characteristic of the Polish Gothic). The original use is the so-called pillar-and-scarp system (also known as the Cracow system). The crypt of the bards was established in 1890, when the corpse of Adam Mickiewicz was brought to Wawel from Paris. Next to him rested 37 years later Juliusz Słowacki. In 1993 they were symbolically joined by Cyprian Kamil Norwid, who was commemorated with a plaque. Chopin also completed the crypt.
04.07.2013
