Cultural relations between Rus and Poland with reference to Galician architectural tradition of the 12th century

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Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University

Cultural relations between Rus and Poland with reference to Galician architectural tradition of the 12^th century

Oleh Chuyko, PhD of Arts Criticism, Associate Professor

Ukraine, Ivano-Frankivsk

Abstract

The paper considers peculiar development of sacral architecture of the Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia which, while being congruent with the Eastern Christian tradition, still applied Romanesque building techniques and created building decoration system involving white-stone carvings typical of Central and Western European artistic tradition. It also covers some aspects of scholarly discussion concerning mutual influence of Galicia-Volhynia and Poland stone architecture of the 12^th-13^th centuries.

We also differentiate design features and stylistic peculiarities of Ancient Galician temples according to their correspondence with Western European art and style systems and local architectural tradition. We identify originality of the local architectural school of Ancient Rus in its western territories.

Key words: Middle Ages, architecture, Romanesque style, Halych, Chelm.

Анотація

Русько-польські культурні взаємозв'язки в контексті галицької архітектурної традиції XII століття

Чуйко О. Д. кандидат мистецтвознавства, доцент

Прикарпатський національний університет імені Василя Стефаника, Україна, м. Івано-Франківськ

Стаття присвячена особливостям розвитку сакральної архітектури Галицько-Волинського князівства, яка, перебуваючи у руслі східнохристиянської традиції, використовувала романську будівельну техніку та сформувала систему декоративного оздоблення споруд із застосуванням білокам'яного різьблення, що є типовим для центрально- і західноєвропейської мистецької традиції. Висвітлено окремі аспекти наукової дискусії стосовно взаємовпливів галицько-волинської та польської мурованої архітектури ХІІ-ХІІІ ст.

Диференційовано конструктивно-стильові особливості давньогалицьких храмів за їх відповідністю західноєвропейським художньо-стильовим системам та місцевій архітектурній традиції. Визначено самобутність локальної архітектурної школи Стародавньої Русі на її західних теренах.

Ключові слова: Середньовіччя, архітектура, романська стилістика, Галич, Холм.

Аннотация

Русско-польские культурные взаимосвязи в контексте галицкой архитектурной традиции XII века

Чуйко О. Д. кандидат искусствоведения, доцент

Прикарпатский национальный университет имени Василия Стефаника, Украина, г. Ивано-Франковск

Статья посвящена особенностям развития сакральной архитектуры Галицко-Волынского княжества, которая, находясь в русле восточно-христианской традиции, использовала романскую строительную технику и сформировала систему декоративной отделки сооружений с применением белокаменной резьбы, что является типичным для центрально- и западноевропейской художественной традиции. Освещены отдельные аспекты научной дискуссии относительно взаимовлияния галицко-волынской и польской каменной архитектуры XII-XIII вв.

Дифференцированно конструктивно-стилевые особенности давньогалицьких храмов за их соответствием западноевропейским художественно-стилевым системам и местной архитектурной традиции. Определены самобытность локальной архитектурной школы Древней Руси на ее западных землях.

Ключевые слова: Средневековье, архитектура, романская стилистика, Галич, Холм.

Architecture of Galician Rus is a unique phenomenon in the history of medieval European culture. With its genetic link to the architecture of Kyiv and the Byzantine Empire, it demonstrates a clear tendency towards independent form evolution already in the early stages of its development. Developing along the lines of the Eastern Christian tradition, the Galician architectural school had close ties with artistic processes in the Romanesque architecture of Western and Central Europe.

It is in the area of architecture where political and cultural ties between the Galician lands, Poland and Hungary were clearly embodied. Monumental construction activities in Galician Rus began in the first quarter of the 12^th century, after the Church of John was built in Przemysl in 1116 (according to other sources, in 1119) by Prince Volodar Rostyslavych. Although it was constructed in accordance with Ruthenian cross-domed church canons based on the Byzantine tradition, this church was built not from plinthiform bricks, standard for the Ancient Rus, but from carefully crafted squares of limestone, that is, the technique, typical of the Romanesque architecture.

Malopolska (Lesser Poland) is the region of origin of the guild of craftsmen, who built the first churches in Galician Rus with the Romanesque style features. For example, the following religious buildings were erected in the late 11^th-12^th centuries: the St. Andrew's Church in Krakow, the Church of St. John the Baptist in Prandocin, the Collegiate Church of St. Martin in Opatow, and the Collegiate Church in the Wislica. Each of them has common features with Galician churches of the early 12^th century (the Church of John the Baptist in Przemysl, the Church of the Savior in Halych and the stone church in Zvenyhorod in Galicia) [2, p. 158].

The above mentioned monuments from Malopolska were erected to private orders of Polish feudal public officials. Prince Volodar of Przemysl employed the services of such a private guild, which was not associated either with princely court, episcopal residence, or monastic order. This fact suggests close cultural and craft relations between Rus and Poland. Galician architecture borrowed from the Lesser Polish Romanesque architecture armory not only white stone block construction technique, but also such characteristic design features as, for example, extremely wide foundation plate, sometimes up to three meters wide, as well as longitudinal foundation bands, which joined pillar foundations and walls.

A four-pillar building with a chapel attached to it in the north, the Church of John the Baptist in Przemysl was built almost square in its design (18^22.5). The white stone floor survived in the south-eastern part of the church interior. Majolica fragments suggest that, besides the stone floor, the interior decor also contained areas paved with ceramic tiles.

Excavations of the Przemysl Cathedral have revealed various architectural elements: decorative frieze bands and archlets, profiled bases, semi-columns, as well as fragments of plaster with surviving polychromy. There are three variants of a hypothetical reconstruction of the Church of John the Baptist, suggested by Andrzej Zaki [14, p. 50], Myroslav Nimtsiv [7, p. 623-647] and Vasyl Petryk [11].

Although popular in the Romanesque architecture of western countries, the technique of white stone masonry, employed while building the Przemysl Church, was not typical of Kyivan Rus architecture. According to P. Rappoport, historian of Ruthenian architecture, Prince Volodar Rostyslavych of Przemysl, being short of his own materials and builders, had to turn to masters from Poland, where at that time the Romanesque style was being established. P. Rappoport also suggested another hypothesis that Volodar even could have captured a group of Romanesque architects during one of his Polish campaigns or might have brought them along to Przemysl upon returning from the Polish captivity [12, p. 461-462].

Archaeologist O. loannisyan, another proponent of this hypothesis, believed that such a choice of Prince Volodar might have arisen from his strained relations with other Ruthenian principalities [3, p. 37]. Ukrainian researcher and architect V. Petryk questioned the attribution of the monument suggested by P. Rappoport and O. loannisyan. In his analysis, the Polish churches, regarded by researchers as analogues to the Przemysl Church, were built at the same time as the Church of John the Baptist in Przemysl, or even later. On the other hand, Romanesque techniques and practices characteristic of the Galician architectural school, developed almost simultaneously in the early 12^th century in Czechia, Poland, Hungary, and therefore, the issue of the origin of masters who initiated the white stone construction in Galicia must be addressed in the context of intercultural relations of Central European countries at the turn of the 12^th century. [10, p. 66-68]. Probably, the builders of the Church of John the Baptist in Przemysl were the first to introduce the Romanesque stone construction technique in the Galician territories, erecting, however, a traditional Ruthenian cross-domed church in the Byzantine style.

The aforementioned guild of builders can also be associated with partially excavated church in Tsvyntaryska natural boundary, identified by Sharanevych as the Church of St. Anne. According to O. Ioannisyan, the church on the handicraft posad (settlement) of ancient Halych was a four- pillar building, similar to the churches in Przemysl, Zvenyhorod and the court Church of the Savior [3, p. 39]. Its excavations revealed a stone profiled console similar to the arcaded frieze consoles of the Church of Boris and Gleb in Kideksha, a famous monument of Vladimir-Suzdal architectural school. A certain stage of the Galician architecture could have been associated with princely orders. Adaptation of this tradition for monumental construction in the Vladimir-Suzdal land might have been caused by closer political and dynastic relations between the two remote territories of Rus.

The Church of St. John the Baptist in Przemysl (1119-1125) also belongs to the period under study. According to written sources, between 1119 and 1124, Prince Volodar Rostyslavych built a white stone church of St. John in Przemysl and was buried in it in 1125. In 1470, it was dismantled to construct the present cathedral [9, p. 14]. In 1959-1964, the ruins of the church were discovered and partially excavated in the Przemysl castle. The author of the discovery (A. Zaki) identified it with the church of Prince Volodar [13; 14]. Among Ukrainian researchers, this monument was studied by M. Nimtsiv [7], however, its construction principles and architectural features were formulated in the greatest detail by Yurii Lukomskyi and Vasyl Petryk [4; 5]. For example, Yu. Lukomskyi agrees with the suggested dating of the Przemysl Church at the early 1120's, as well as with the fact that its construction was ordered by Prince Volodar Rostyslavych, because this cross-domed church bears the imprint of Kyiv-Byzantine architectural tradition. However, the researcher considers the use of white stone Romanesque technique as insufficient grounds to associate the guild that built the church with the territories of Malopolska [1, p. 189-216].

In its design, the Przemysl Cathedral was a four-pillar, triapsidal building regarded as a characteristic feature of Ruthenian Byzantine-style churches of the 12^th-13^th centuries. But one detail gives grounds for tracing the origin of monumental construction in Przemysl. Specifically, the size of the square under the dome of the Church of John the Baptist was 6.0-6.2 m, that is, about 30 Greek feet. According to V. Petryk, medieval architecture researcher, churches with such dimensions of squares under the dome became popular in the Ruthenian architecture in the late 11^th - early 12^th centuries. The most famous among them are the Assumption Cathedral of the Yelets Monastery (1110-1120) and the Church of Borys and Hlib (1120-1123) in Chernihiv, the Cathedral of St. Michael's Monastery in Kyiv (1060-1213), St. George's Cathedral of St. George's (Yuriev) Monastery in Novgorod (1119) [11, p. 321].

As I. Mohytych has precisely observed, while erecting cross-domed churches, Galician builders tried to make their spatial composition as similar as possible to centrally planned churches known to be most popular in Central and Eastern Europe. Making under the dome squares as wide as possible and removing sometimes narthex (the Church of John the Baptist in Przemysl), masters achieved laconic and expressive church silhouette with overarching central dome [6, p. 203]. Text of the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle enables us to imagine architectural features of St. John Chrysostom Church in Chetm, as well as some elements of its artistic decoration. architecture galician churche construction

The church building represented the contemporary overwhelming practice of cross-domed sacral construction, which developed on the basis of the Byzantine-Kyivan architectural tradition. Nevertheless, this church, as well as others mentioned in the annals (Holy Trinity Church, Saints Cosmas and Damian Church and Holy Mother of God Cathedral), were built in the stone block construction technique popular in the Galician principality and neighboring Hungary and Poland. Its vaults relied on four pillars with carved human heads on their tops, a detail recorded nowhere else in medieval Galician architecture. The unique feature of churches in Chetm was using in the interior two monolithic pillars, which formed the basis for the altar screen design.

Conclusions

Galician architectural school is characterized by maintaining for centuries the Byzantine tradition, which is traced in the planning of the church apse, application of masonry technique, use of traditional Galician construction materials. As to design and technological features, each of the Galician cross-domed churches has architectural analogues among contemporary churches on the territory of Kyivan Rus.

Based on the examples drawn in this paper, we can state that despite active cultural contacts between Galician Rus and European countries, namely Poland, which inspired some experience of religious brick construction, based on this experience and achievements of Kyiv building school, ancient Galician architects were able to develop an independent local architectural tradition.

References

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