IZABELA Z FLEMMINGÓW CZARTORYSKA I EKSPLORACJA „RUIN” KOŚCIOŁA ŚW. MICHAŁA NA WAWELU W ŚWIETLE ŹRÓDEŁ PISANYCH
IZABELA NÉE FLEMMING CZARTORYSKA AND THE EXPLORATION OF THE ‘RUINS’ OF THE CHURCH OF ST MICHAEL AT WAWEL CASTLE IN THE LIGHT OF WRITTEN SOURCES

Summary/Abstract: The article presents the issue of the quasi-excavations at the Collegiate Church of St Michael the Archangel at Wawel that Izabela née Flemming Czartoryska was said to have carried out, acquiring for her collection several valuable works of art and monuments of the past – an unidentifiable and apparently lost tombstone, unpreserved stained glass windows and three altar paintings: an unknown Venetian work, Christ and the Adulteress by Titian or Veronese (according to I. Czartoryska) and two panel paintings of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Master Jerzy, as well as the Dormition of Mary believed mostly to be the work of a follower of Michael Lancz von Kitzingen. The narrative written down by Czartoryska about the acquisition of the aforementioned two works has so far been considered well documented. A comparison of the various accounts recorded by the Duchess shows that the accounts contradict one another in some places. Some of the information contained therein, hitherto treated as reliable, is not reflected in church sources – descriptors of the collegiate furnishings from the 18th century. The dating (1802, erroneously reproduced in the literature as 1803) exploration of the ruins that was provided by her is also questionable. It seems that Czartoryska’s claims are the result of an error or deliberate manipulation aimed at making history more appealing. Juxtaposition of the contents of the manuscript catalogues of the Gothic House with documents in the Archives of the Kraków Cathedral Chapter and with announcements about the auction of collegiate equipment in 1803 leads to the conclusion that the exploration of the collegiate ruins described by Czartoryska could not have taken place in the winter of 1802. It cannot be ruled out that the exploration of the collegiate ruins described by Czartoryska did not take place at all, and that the objects from St Michael’s Church were acquired, for example, during an auction of the temple’s furnishings in 1803.

• Details
• Contents