Z badań nad więźbami dachowymi w kościołach kamedułów pustelników w Rytwianach i w Monte Rua
From the Research into the Roof Structures of the Camaldolese Hermits Churches at Rytwiany and Monte Rua

Summary/Abstract: From the Research into the Roof Structures of the Camaldolese Hermits Churches ff Rytwiany and Monte Rua In the paper commemorating Ryszard Brykowski my intention is to refer to the 1959 research we both conducted at Rytwiany, while focusing on the topic of wooden roof structures, so close to his heart, and resorting to the examples to be found in the churches of the congregation of the Camaldolese Hermits of Monte Corona (1524). The layout and the architecture of the Złoty Las (Golden Forest) Hermitage at Rytwiany became a topic of particular interest in research centres in Warszawa and in Kraków as of the 1950s.The summing up of the historical research and the results of the new discoveries was organized at the 2017 Academic Conference: ‘The Cameldolese at Rytwiany. 400 Years of the Złoty Las Hermitage’. The first paper based on sources and dealing with the history of the layout and architecture of the Hermitage of Monte Rua (near Padua) was published in 1993, and the academic monograph, which was a support for further studies, appeared in 2011 (Matthias Mulitzer). The Hermitage of Monte Rua was set amidst the forest in 1573, featuring the Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady (1543-49) at the peak of the hill. The church’s programme, layout, and the ‘basilica-type’ block, may have served as the model for the Order’s rule (1610), and may have affected the architecture of other Camaldolese churches. The church’s body was covered with a low gable roof, with the slope adjusted to the inclination of the tympanum, while the chapels, chapter, and the sacristy to its sides were covered with a mono-pitched roof. The roof structure was adjusted to the roof slopes and walls’ spread. Raised as of 1617, the Hermitage at Rytwiany was founded by the Tęczyński brothers educated in e.g. Padua: Gabriel, Lublin Voivode, and Jan Magnus, Kraków Voivode. The Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady (1624-37) was built in the centre and on the foundation axis possibly after a design imported from Italy, this testified to not only by the adjustment to the Order’s regulations, but also by a striking similarity to the plan of the Monte Tizziano church (1619, designed by P. Alessandro Secchi). In 1624, P. Hiacenty Tudertinus began to erect the Hermitage; the construction process at Rytwiany was subsequently continued by the Priors: P. Jan Sylvano Boselli of Bergamo and P. Wenanty of Subiaco (painter, author of frescoes and paintings). Nonetheless, the Rytwiany church differs from the Italian ones in a high-roofed mass and a two-storeyed gable ‘in harmony with the Polish sky and custom’. The dating of the church’s gable and mass is confirmed by the painting by P. Wenanty featuring the Hermitage model (1627; Fig. 1). It is relevant at this point to recall that in Poland in the first half of the 17th century a construction process was conducted traditionally: after the layout had been marked out, walls were raised, following which local carpenters would make the roof structure; following this, the roof surface inclined at ca 50o was shingled, and only then was the vault made, and eventually the tower and the gables were raised (Fig.2-3). At Rytwiany, the original king post structure has been preserved above the nave/chancel (Fig. 4-5). Its trusses are made of tie-beams supported on wall plates, and connected by means of struts and braces with the king post as well as the rafters. The king posts are located in every truss. In the transverse plane, the king post trusses were suspended with a couple of braces on the rafters and set in collar beams, whereas on the longitudinal axis, the braces diagonally connected the frame made up of the king post ground beam and rails (Fig. 6). All the elements were connected with dovetail joints and strengthened with pegs.No carpenter’s assembly marks have been found, yet investigation and the preserved mass of the Rytwiany church confirm the genuine structure. As for the gables, they were raised in two stages: the western one (before 1637) and the eastern one (following a fire, 1741). King post structures were used on the Polish territory in the 14th-15th century up to the late 18th century, also in the closest vicinity of Rytwian, e.g. in the Zborówek wooden church (1459; Fig. 7), and in the Gothic church in Szydłów (the roof structure rebuilt after 1630; Fig.8), and also in many modern churches, e.g. in Szydłowiec, Klimontów, Opatów, Pińczów, and Raków. The roofs of the Monte Rua church were gradually altered: in the 17th century, the nave body was covered with a gable roof, while the sides with mono-pitched roofs. (Fig.9). Meanwhile, in the 18th century, a single gable roof covered both the church’s body and the sides (remodelled in the 18th century). During renovations (as of 1865), in an attempt to echo the original mass, the gable roof and mono-pitched ones were restored, without, however, the ridge level having been altered. The 1993 documentation confirms the preservation of the genuine core of the roof structure with queen posts and the replacement of the tie-beams and the roofing (Fig. 10). The applied structure with one queen post and braces in the truss above the church’s body at Monte Rua was most appropriate for low roofs with a truss span of 7-10.0 (Fig. 11) applied in Italy. This structure type was accomplished there from the antiquity until the late 18th century; in the case of wider spans, the number of queen posts or braces was increased. Necessary examples can be found not far from Monte Rua, in the two early Christian basilicas of Grado: in Sant’Eufemi Church (Fig. 12) there is a queen post roof truss with one queen post and the tie-beam, whereas in Santa Maria della Grazie Church there is such roof with one queen post, two braces, and the tie-beam. All the elements were connected with notches. This kind of roof structure is known e.g. in mediaeval Florence (San Miniato al Monte, Santa Croce; Fig. 15) and later. It was also present in several variants in the theory of modern architecture (S. Serlio 1537, published 1584, Fig. 13; A. Palladio 1570, Fig. 14). In Italy the roof frames with several queen posts were called ‘capriate Palladiana’. In the modern era, design drawings illustrated ‘composition unities’ on the grounds of putting together fragments of the layout, half of the cross section, and the half façade, with the roof slopes relevant to the slopes of the tympanum, as e.g. in the print of the Il Gesu Church (1617), with the queen post roof truss. All the churches of the Camaldolese Hermits in Italy featured ‘basilica-shaped’ masses (with no windows above the mono-pitched roof), while the level of the roof ridge was adjusted to the tympanum crowning the façade (Fig. 16); the Kahlenberg Church (1628-39), raised by P. Sylvano Boselli, ranked among that group, this despite its later roof structure (collar beam roof truss with lying posts, after 1693 the 1715 restoration; Fig. 17). An issue apart is to be found in the structure of mono-pitched roofs, which appeared later in Camaldolese churches: the Monte Rua one (after 1865), and the Rytwiany one (1930). In every case, however, the roof framing was implemented by local carpenters. Currently, the research into the structure of roofs and their conservation are conducted by numerous domestic and foreign institutions.

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