Historia budowy sanktuarium św. Anny w Oleśnie w świetle badań dendrochronologicznych
Construction Chronology of the Sanctuary of St Anne in Olesno in the Light of Dendrochronological Research

Summary/Abstract: Construction Chronology of the Sanctuary of St Anne in Olesno in the Light of Dendrochronological Research Folk tales and legends have it that the pilgrimage church of St Anne in Olesno (Opolskie Voivodeship) was created in relation to miraculous events occurring through the intervention of St Anne. The church itself together with the group of five adjacent square chapels, closed dihedrally, these also with a connecting passage encircling the hexagonal central part, constitute a unique historic facility, with no analogy in wooden sacral architecture in Poland and worldwide. In an attempt to classify the facility as a Historic Monument, the Voivodeship Office for the Protection of Monuments in Opole commissioned a complex dendrochronological investigation of the facility. In late 2018, the sanctuary was classified as a Historic Monument, thus completing the first necessary stage in order to enter the UNESCO World Heritage List. The main source for the study of the history of the Sanctuary of St Anne in Olesno is to be found in the church Chronicle written down in Polish in 1700-08 by the Prior of Olesno Canons Regular Augustyn Błazik. The Chronicle, together with the Olesno Parish archive, was lost in a fire in 1945. Currently, the information it contained is known only from older studies, first of all from the publication by Carl Cuno (Alte Holzkirchen, [in:] “Zeitschrift für Bauwesen”, Jg. 6, 1856, H. 7-9, columns 393-398, “Atlas zur Zeitschrift für Bauwesen”, Bl. 45-46), who, actually basing himself on the Chronicle, reconstructed the monument’s history, additionally describing its architecture and conducting its inventory drawings. According to the Chronicle, the first church was raised in 1514. In 1619, the church was added a quadrilateral chapel; the latter substituted by today’s group of chapels built by Master Carpenter Marcin Snopek (vel Martin Sempek or Martin Senepek) of Gliwice in 1669. Detailed agreements related to the chapels’ layouts, wood quality, and the fee, are to be found in the Contract concluded between the Parish Priest and the carpenter in December 1668 (the Contract copy included in the Chronicle). Moreover, Carl Cuno recorded the dates featured on respective parts of buildings: ‘1670’ on the connecting passage joist opposite the high altar, which he associated with the completion of the polygonal structure, namely the group of chapels; he links ‘1790’, in turn (in his times visible in the central dome; currently the date ‘1904’ is featured in its place) to a later repair, similarly as ‘1707’ found in the passage from the sacristy to the chancel.Hans Lutsch in his inventory (Verzeichnis der Kunstdenkmäler der Provinz Schlesien, t. IV: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Reg.-Bezirks Oppeln, Breslau 1894, p. 254 ff.) was the first to give 1518 as the church’s construction date. The 1960 Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce (Catalogue of Art Monuments in Poland) also assumed this dating for the church, later reiterated by German- and Polish-speaking scholars. In the latter half of the 19th century, the date was painted on the rood beam. Following the Chronicle, the years 1668-70 were unanimously assumed as the date of the raising of the chapels. In recent years a hypothesis has been formulated, this, however, unsupported by any sources or research that the chancel of the present church may have been an earlier chapel raised on the spot of the miraculous occurrences in 1444. For the purpose of the dendrochronological analysis 108 samples were taken, theses including 97 of pinewood and 11 of spruce. Out of these, 77 samples were successfully dated, enabling to date 19 out of 23 investigated structures. In the course of the church’s visual inspection before the sampling it had been ascertained that the current nave is composed of two almost equal parts: the eastern one, raised simultaneously with the chancel, and the western one, added in a later period, and meant to elongate it. This fact had not been earlier notified in scholarly research. The dendrochronological analysis demonstrated that for the construction of the walls of the chancel and of the short genuine nave (at present the eastern section of the nave), as well as of the roof structure and the structure of the bell turret, pinewood felled in the autumn of 1513 and winter respectively that year and 1514 was used. Following these results it can be ascertained that the original church may have been erected in 1514 at the earliest, this confirmed by the date recorded in the Chronicle, and quoted by Carlo Cuno. Therefore, 1518 assumed by the majority of scholars to have been the construction date of the current church, has not been confirmed by dendrochronological research and archival resources. Neither was the chancel of the present church ever an older separate chapel.The set of chapels was built of pinewood of high quality, acquired in the autumn-winter cuttings in 1668 and 1669 respectively. Out of this material at least some of the chapels were created already in 1669. The date ‘1670’incised in the ceiling joist in the southern section of the connecting passage may refer to the completion of the construction works. Meanwhile, single samples dated to 1671 from the northern section of the passage and the roof above the dome testify to the fact that finishing works must have continued that year. In the light of the dendrochronological research the set of chapels surrounding the church dates to 1669-71. Initially, the chapels were raised as a free-standing structure. The southern section of the current passageway may have originally served as the sixth northern chapel. Communication between the chapels and the church may have been allowed by a roofed passageway or an arcade. The research has ascertained that in 1790 (this confirmed by the date in the dome recorded by Carlo Cuno), the roof over the central dome was lifted by ca 30-40 cm by means of adding new rafters. It was in the latter half of 1705 at the earliest that the construction of the present sacristy with the founders’ box in the upper storey was launched. All the pinewood used in the walls, ceilings, and in certain elements of the roof structure, came from the 1705 summer cuttings. Throughout the investigation it was discovered that the sacristy is a free-standing structure, with its walls distanced ca 10-20 cm from the chancel walls. This observation had not been revealed by scholars, neither had it been recorded in inventory drawings. As results from the dendrochronological research, a major extension of the sanctuary was conducted in 1755-59. In 1755, the western nave section (half) together with the tower supported on its wall was built. The solution with a tower built over the nave part is interesting architecturally, as well as in view of the structure’s functionality (it offers far more usable space than traditional towers adjacent to the western walls). In the course of the subsequent stage of works (1759), the northern section of the passageway joining the chapels with the church was raised. Until that remodelling, thus for almost 90 years, the set of chapels was a free-standing structure by the side of a small towerless church. The sanctuary acquired its final form, thus the one that can be seen today, in 1759. No written records are available on that extension, and it is only the dendrochronological investigation that provides the relevant information.

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