Artibus et Historiae no. 37 (XIX)
1998, ISSN 0391-9064Up
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ZYGMUNT ŚWIECHOWSKI - Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque Architecture in Poland in the Light of the Latest Archeological Investigations
In the last decades the archeological excavations brought many conclusions concerning Early Polish Architecture. The revision of the opinions on form and chronology of many already known objects was made and, at the same time, many previously unknown monuments were discovered. The results of the excavations on the Wawel Hill in Cracow are especially important. There, since 1970, six unknown pre-Romanesque sacral buildings were discovered with the remnants of he earliest Cathedral among them as well as three rotundas. Further central buildings were discovered at Zawichost, Łękno and Przemyśl. From the number of residences dating to the period of formation of the Polish State in the 10th and 11th centuries it is necessary to subtract the evidently later palatia at Wislica. Instead, their number will probably increase with the finding out a big building discovered within the ramparts of the castle at Kałdus in Pomerania. Essential conclusions are due to the excavations in the Benedictine Abbeys. The church at Mogilno turned out to be an exact replica of the Benedictine churches in the Liège diocese. The excavations usually planned on a large scale visualized that the stone architecture within the fortified princely residences and connected with them agglomerations of urban character was erected in the context of settlements. While wooden- end-earthen fortifications and dwelling houses built in a similar way continued traditions of local, pre-Christian Building, the stone ones, both ecclesiastical and residential, were the work of stonemasons coming from the West.
