Silver Furnishings of Medieval Altar of St. Stanislaus in Cracow Cathedral

Abstract

The article looks at these elements of St. Stanislaus’ tomb in the Gothic Cathedral on the Wawel Hill which were made of silver. Except for one (a reliquary diptych) all were destroyed and are known only from written records. The basic issue is to establish the date and the founder of a wooden coffin covered with gilded silver plates, in which the relics of the Martyr were placed. The literature on the subject attributed the foundation of the reliquary to St. Kunegunda (1234-1292), Elizabeth of Poland (1305-1380), St. Jadwiga, Hedvig of Anjou (1374-1399) and Ladislaus the Short (1260 or 1261-1333). Thanks to the records written in 1631 by a priest Jan Wielewicki which mention the renovation of the medieval coffin, we know that it had an inscription which unequivocally pointed to the person of Elizabeth of Poland, wife of a Hungarian king Charles I Robert and mother of a king of Hungary and Poland Louis d’Anjou, as the founder. A detailed description included in the records of an inspection of the Cracow Cathedral in 1670 allows an approximate reconstruction of this work of art, which was a box-reliquary of approximate measurements: 175, 8x87, 9x43, 95 cm, closed with a ridge roof cover of unknown height. It had cast decoration. The longer sides were each interspersed with 6 and the shorter with 2 pictures with the scenes from St. Stanislaus’s life. Likenesses of 18 bishops adorned both patches of the corners and axes of the shorter sides were accentuated with buttresses. Top rims of the cover were decorated with an open-work comb (tracery). Iconographic programme cannot be reconstructed on the basis of the existing sources. After a new coffin for the remains of the Saint was funded by Sigismund III, the old one was used as a reliquary for the hand and placed in St. Peter and Paul’s chapel, which - according to tradition - originally housed the tomb. After the cathedral was looted by the Swedes in 1657, the medieval reliquary was put back in the middle of the church. Then, in the years 1669 -1671, when a new silver coffin was funded by bishop Piotr Gembicki, it was re-cast. An important element of St. Stanislaus’ altar decoration before 1512 (when Sigismund I had an imposing silver retable made) were paintings which were kept in the treasury and placed on the mensa during the liturgy. Inventories list 12 ‘plates’ in all, some of which were made of silver, some covered with silver sheet metal (frames, dresses) and some only decorated with such applique. The most imposing was a triptych with the Holy Trinity engraved on sheet metal and richly set with jewels (in the type of Throne of Mercy) and the figures of Mary with the Child and St. John the Evangelist. Among the rest the most prominent were the depictions of the Salvator and the Virgin Mary with the Child. Some were accompanied by markings indicating their Byzantine or Ruthenian origins. A painting of Mary holding little Jesus in her arms, covered with a silver plate with lilies in the background, set with jewels and pearls, in a frame decorated with Polish and Hungarian coats of arms deserves special attention. It can undoubtedly be considered as a twin work to the three paintings stored in the treasury in Aachen and one in Mariazell, funded by Louis d’Anjou. The only painting of those which used to adorn the altar of St. Stanislaus which has survived to the present is the reliquary diptych with silver appliques, set with precious stones, depicting the Virgin Mary with the Child and Vemicle. It was painted in Cracow around 1440-1450 and was funded by the cathedral curate Maciej of Grodziec.