Page:Cracow - Lepszy.djvu/100

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GOTHIC STYLE IN CRACOW ART
80

father and son, are said to have been the builders of it. Bishop Peter Wysz gave the church, when it was ready, to the Canons Regular of St. Austin (illustration 26). Some parts of the building, as the western gable-end and the tower, are fifteenth and sixteenth century work. The church, both in plan and detail, as well as in dimensions, shows close imitation of St. Catherine's, which we have just described; the system of construction is also the same. The choir, with an octagonal chevet and eight oblong bays, has very narrow windows, partly walled up, with stained glasses; the panes, added later, are a complete failure with regard to harmony of form and colours. The body of the church consists of three naves; on its western side, it has a stair-like gable-end, the most perfect sample of the peculiar Cracow system of gable structure, common both in churches and private buildings. Its vertical lines are broken by stone ornaments—figures and coats-of-arms. The Polish eagles among the latter are surmounted by cardinals' hats, which point to Cardinal Frederick (d. 1503), a son of king Casimir Jagello. A medieval tower, rebuilt in 1556, was crowned in 1635 by a baroque spire, which is also of a character peculiar to Cracow. Adjoining the north side of the church there is a vestry, built in the Gothic period, and a two-storied oratory of later date. A medieval gangway leads over from the upper story of the oratory to the convent buildings.

The convent house, rebuilt in the seventeenth century, and provided with galleries in Renascence style, served as headquarters for the Swedish king, Charles Gustavus, when besieging Cracow in 1655.

In the interior of the church the baroque style is predominant; the gigantic high altar, in baroque style, the canopied seat for the Prior, and the double-rowed stalls produce a grand impression. At the entrance door there was hanging in former times—as in St. Mary's Church at Cracow—an iron collar for public sinners; here also was placed the prison for ecclesiastical transgressors, and a Calvary, where probably the medieval mysteries were produced.