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The paper is an introduction to the volume that brings together the works of the international conference entitled Monastic life, art and technology in the 11th-16th centuries, held in Alba Iulia from October 16th-18th, 2014.
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The paper offers an overview about the project entitled Monastic Life, Art and Technology at Bizere Monastery directed by Ileana Burnichioiu from 2013 to 2016.
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The results of the archaeological excavations at the former Benedictine abbey of Bizere are represented now by a series of buildings’ remains and approximately ten thousand artifacts. Even so, the archaeological research is far from being exhausted allowing more working hypotheses regarding the spatial organization and monastic life. Therefore, at this stage everyday life at Bizere is recomposed from artifacts intended for intellectual activities, constructions related to water management, various types of crafts (stone and masonry workshops, ceramic production, smithy, glass production), games, and pilgrimage. Isolated artifacts offer clues and generate discussions on shapes and functionality, as well as on their origin and production place.
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The contribution deals with the both spiritually and materially rich environment of the dominion of the Rožmberk Lords, the most powerful noble dynasty in Bohemia. Thanks to their contacts and position in the Czech Kingdom, South Bohemia along with its monasteries (Cistercian monasteries in Vyšší Brod and in Zlatá Koruna, the Augustinian canonical monastery in Třeboň, and the monastery of Conventual Franciscans and Poor Clares in Český Krumlov) are associated with magnificent pieces of medieval Bohemian art that count among the top representatives of Gothic art in Bohemia and in Europe in general (the Madonna of Český Krumlov, works of the Master of Vyšší Brod, works of the Master of the Třeboň altar piece, e.g.). This contribution attempts to outline both the spiritual and the cultural background of these works' origin, mirroring the piety that reflected the respect for relics. In this context, it is important to point out the relics of the Corpus Christi Feast, which was, in the manner of Prague festivities, held annually in the residential town of the Rožmberk dynasty, the city of Český Krumlov, and interconnected both functionally and spiritually the individual monasteries of South Bohemia.
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In medieval Hungary towards the end of the twelfth century many cathedrals from the eleventh century were in the progress of being rebuilt or approaching completion. Remarkably, the completion and superior renewal of two such architectural works—at Esztergom and Eger—with excellent marble works and the large-scale use of an elegant and exclusive marble material, are connected to the simultaneous identification of the local marble quarries.In Esztergom the interior of the Cathedral was certainly “encased” with marble as well. The walls and the pillars of the nave, which probably connected the choir, were also covered with marble. In addition, the preserved details of the variety of incrustation patterns and opus sectile floors have been associated with the preferred sites and routes of the cathedral’s liturgy. In the art historical research the famous red marble works of the Esztergom Cathedral and the completion of the cathedral’s renewal are dated to the common ruling years (1185–1196) of King Béla III and Archbishop Job, illustrated together on the tympanum of the Porta Speciosa.The relics of the renewal of the Eger Cathedral at the end of the twelfth century—the turn of the year 1200—are represented by some early gothic pillar, rib, and capital fragments as well as by a large number of fragments of architectural details, carved in outstanding quality from white marble and red andesite. From these series of blind niches of various sizes and entablatures unfolds the articulated barrier architecture (probably the choir screen). To all this a varied sampled opus sectile floor was associated. The ornamental small architecture partially accompanied by inscriptions and incrustations could be related to the elevated level of the main sanctuary and choir of the cathedral, as well as the vaulted burial chamber at the west end of the nave, which certainly represents the burial memory of King Emeric (1196–1204). A possible antecedent and iconographic model of the decorated marble choir and decorative floor at Eger could be the Deanery Church of Alba Regia founded by King Stephen, which got its decoration with the founder’s burial (1038) and his canonization (1083). The close connection between the chamber and the barrier architecture in Eger also raises the question of the king’s role as a builder. However, next to the king, the most important role was that of Bishop Katapán (1198–1217), who was an important person at the court of King Béla and his son. He started his career as provost of Alba Regia, in the 1190s he advanced to the chancellor's office, and from there to the bishop's chair. The bishop could have played a part in Emeric's decision to interrupt the royal burial series in Alba Regia by choosing to be buried in Eger Cathedral.
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The purpose of this study is to examine the presence of friar-artisans within the Transylvanian Dominican convents, and their involvement in carrying out works for the houses of the order and for lay communities. Starting with the regulations set by the Dominican constitutions and the provincial chapters in regards to the friars’ participation in building activities, the study will focus on written evidence for the presence of skilled workers among the Transylvanian brethren. The main sources for the topic are the early sixteenth-century city account books of Braşov (Kronstadt/Brassó) as well as two records from the priories of Sighişoara (Schäßburg/Segesvár) and Cluj (Klausenburg/Kolozsvár). The documents reveal names of lay brothers skilled in construction trades and point to the ownership of appropriate tools and working facilities by the convents, but bring no reliable evidence about the friars’ work. A case example of prolific cooperation between the local communities and the Dominican brethren of Braşov, who provided building materials and management assistance to the city’s construction sites, is also discussed.
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The present work contains a report on the application of the most appropriate survey method for Bauforschung, called true-to-form survey, applied to the medieval and Renaissance building remains identified during the wall research from 2014-2017 in the wing “E” of the Princely Palace in Alba Iulia (eastern courtyards). In some written sources from the 17th-18th centuries, they were mentioned as “Provost’s Gate”. By recording the existing state of various discoveries by precise measurement (as stones and bricks, plaster and white-washed surfaces, clefts crumbling, mechanical damage and the visible marks of stone dressing tools and corrections, tile, iron and wood remains), we provided a visual tool of determining the construction and decoration stages, the moments of destruction and the repair stages.
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The paper discusses the performances of the Sarajevo National Theater operetta troupe in Niš in the 1920s, their importance for artistic communication between two geographically distant Yugoslav areas, and the possible incentives for establishing a National Theater operetta production in the Morava District in Niš in the 1937/1938 season. The introduction examines the controversial status of the operetta in the context of Yugoslav cultural and theatrical policies in the inter-war period. The repertoire of the Sarajevo National Theater operetta ensemble was reconstructed based on local press data regarding all three tours in Niš in 1925, 1926 and 1927. Artists from Sarajevo performed a standard opus of the European operetta literature and several stage-music works and operettas by domestic composers: Davorin Jenko, Josif Roždjalovski and Beluš Jungić, which were well received by local audiences. The success that the operetta ensemble of the Sarajevo National Theater experienced in Niš indicates that operetta very easily crosses national borders and cultural barriers, and establishes a connection with audiences from various cultural environments.
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The paper discusses the development of the New Simplicity from its inception to the present day and New Spirituality as one of its manifestations. The first part of the paper will discuss the historical facts that established the concept of New Simplicity and New Spirituality, the first known examples, and theoretical views of the term by prominent musicologists and composers themselves. The second part of the paper focuses on the New Spirituality and its role in the New Simplicity. In the third part, the emphasis is on the composers whom history has established as expressive representatives of this style, and on the general characteristics and essence of their works. Finally, the fourth part of the paper exhaustively presents the elements that represent the bearers of structural explanations of style.
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The following article follows the similarities and differences between 2001 - A Space Odyssey, directed by Stanley Kubrick (1968) and Solaris, directed by Andrei Tarkovski (1972). Departing from that, I tried to emphasize how these two movies, along with the historical context of their production, constituted a fertile background for further innovations in many fields, such as cinematography, science, literature, music and history. I began this article by briefly presenting the main plots of both movies and tried afterwards to foresee both similarities and differences. After those initial careful considerations, I tried to present their impact on other people and other important fields. Both Tarkovski and Kubrick managed to influence not only the development of the science fiction (SF) genre in cinema, but also helped various people creating similar visions about the space in domains such as science, literature or music. From Star Wars to the Space X project and from the release in 1973 of The Dark Side of the Moon to many other recently released movies, both Tarkovski and Kubrick have a profound cultural, historical and even sociological impact on how science fiction was perceived by the general public and by other very important influencers, such as George Lucas, Carl Sagan and many other cultural and scientific personalities of the 20th and the 21st centuries.
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So far, a separate musicological work on the musical activities in the church of the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance of Bialyničiai (Belarusian Бялы́ нічы, Polish Białynicze) has not been prepared. The lack of a sheet music library prompted the study into several manuscript sources from the second half of the eighteenth century to the first half of the nineteenth century, which are stored in manuscript libraries in Vilnius and Minsk. Using the book of registration of income and expenses of the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance of Bialyničiai, which was the primary source of information, a list of the members of the chapel of the Carmelite Order of Bialyničiai, who were paid in the second half of the eighteenth century, was compiled, with their names, surnames, time of service, and positions. The exact information on the size and the composition of the chapel that used to play in the church of the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance in Bialyničiai in 1824–1825 and in 1832, found in the inventory, the visitation, and the audit, is also provided. With the help of sheet music lists, attempts were made to determine the musical genres predominant in the chapel’s performances and the composers whose vocal-instrumental works were performed. The names of the composers are often distorted in the manuscript lists found, but it is possible to identify some of them or to make assumptions. The seventeenth-to-nineteenth-century heritage of the vocal-instrumental chapels of the Catholic monasteries of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania requires further research in order to produce a synthetic summary of this phenomenon.
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The article is supposed to finding a baroque altar in the parish church in Łazany, which until the 19th century was located in the church in Wadowice.
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The iconography, technique, and stylistic characteristics of the wooden box from the collection at Putna Monastery reveal aspects of the object’s origin and initial functions. The front of the box features a distinct Crucifixion scene, with six smaller panels on the sides, and a decorative border with vegetal designs surrounding human and angelic figures, as well as animals and fantastic creatures. The iconography of the main panel is rooted in earlier visual sources, including the types of religious images that developed between Byzantine and Western traditions, such as the Crucifixion icons of Crete, for example. In addition, some wooden objects kept in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York contain images and stylistic elements like those found on the Putna box. From a technical point of view, the wooden chest from Putna was made using the pyrographata technique, which uses a hot needle to incise the details and accentuate select elements using different colors. The wooden boxes decorated in this manner were produced in Italian workshops (especially the Venetian ones) and exported all over Europe, including in the Balkans and the Carpathian areas. These objects have been used in both secular and religious contexts. In this case, due to the Christian iconography on the main panel and the inside lid, the wooden box from Putna was certainly created to preserve religious objects. Finally, the carving technique used to create complex images visually and iconographically evokes the relief effects of embroidery. Indeed, the execution and arrangement of the composition on the main panel resembles antependia, or altar fronts, which were embroidered, woven, painted, or sculpted. The iconographic details, as well as the technical and stylistic features of the wooden box from Putna reveal aspects of the origin and initial function of this unique object from the monastery’s collection.
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The present work tries to clarify a stage of the artistic approachre garding the iconographic representation on the panel until the 19th century. The complexity of the facts, which led to a metamorphosed existance of the icon panel, must be seen in it sunity; only in this way does the iconographic image of the nineteen th century make sense. The case of the royal icon of the Maica Domnului cu Pruncul – Hodighitria - made in the 19th century by the painter Filotei, belonging to the Golesti museum fund, was chosen for study, a representative case for the transition between medieval and modern.
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Parafrazând Ars una, species mille, am putea spune cã „arhitectura este una, speciile ei o mie”. Arhitectura realizatã cu materiale textile este numai una dintre aceste specii. Prezenþã constantã sub diverse forme în ambientul uman, materialele textile ne „îmbracã” de mii de ani. Cel mai apropiat, fizic, ne sunt hainele.
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The article recalls the history of the last large-format painting of Jan Matejko, The Constitution of 3rd May, which nowadays decorates the apartments of the Royal Castle in Warsaw on the background of Matejko’s statements, his point of views and the realia of political life at the end of the 19th century, taking into account the international situation and the significant changes taking place at that time, predicting the First World War. The article reveals Matejko’s message hidden in the works of art treated so far, in first place, as an occasional painting. The figure of the redemptorist – Klemens Maria Hofbauer, inserted by the painter on the canvas, turns out to be an interpreter of the past events and predicting the future rebirth of Poland. His placement was carefully studied by Matejko. The article presents two research hypothesis about the role of the Saint on the painting, operating in historiography. The article is a sort of polemics with them.
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The historical events of the 20th century have been rather merciless towards the architectural heritage and part of it has perished. Koknese Manor House is among such lost architectural monuments whose image is captured in historical pictures but only ruins of foundations and the basement level remain in situ. Koknese Manor has been owned by the family of the Barons von Löwenstern since the 1780s. Commissioned by Otto Carl Nikolai von Löwenstern, architect Carl David Neuburger (1842–1897) designed Koknese Manor House in 1894. The project reveals the idea behind the building – a rather grand longitudinal house with volumes of different height: a two-storey main block with a mansard roof, a spacious winter garden and an expressive vertical accent in the shape of a square tower topped by a spire. The arrangement of volumes and façade solutions demonstrate the principles of harmony and symmetry. Volute gables crown and accentuate the central axis of façades and their parts. A visually attractive contrast is created between red-brick masonry and abundant elements of light decorative sculpture. The layout of the building, envisioning a high level of comfort, is commensurate with the commissioner’s status and the rationalist ideas of the epoch. The architect has functionally grouped premises into representative, private and household quarters. The location of the manor house on the Daugava riverbank parallel to the river has ensured a presentable, picturesque composition harmonised with its surroundings. Manor house construction began around 1898 and the building was completed in 1901. Some works continued later too, for instance, improvements were finished in 1911 with the installation of running water and sewerage systems. Unlike many other manor centres, Koknese Manor did not suffer during the 1905 Revolution. The building was destroyed during the First World War when the front line was established along the Daugava River and the manor house became a firing target. There were plans to restore the manor house and turn it into a public building like Koknese Parish School. However, preservation or restoration works needed for educational or any other function were not carried out and the building was virtually abandoned before the Second World War. One can fairly certainly conclude that the manor house fell into ruin naturally without any special actions to dismantle it until the Second World War. There are quite plausible memories that the manor house ruins were used as construction materials for individual and cooperative buildings in the 1950s. Koknese Manor House as seen in historical images and photographs dating from the early 20th century up to the 1930s is not identical to the architect Neuburger’s design. The overall arrangement and situation of architectural volumes is consistent with the design. Also, the building’s foundations covering over 800 square metres are retained. Nevertheless, the architectural volume is larger, as additional storeys have been added to some parts of the building, enlarging the interior. The built tower has an octagonal top and the overall constructive and artistic solution is visually more massive and monumental than initially planned. The fully plastered, light façades have replaced the contrast of the red brick and light details envisioned in the project. The building’s exterior is complemented with column porticos; there is abundant use of decorative and constructive metal elements. The architectural and artistic solution of Koknese Manor House, including its design as well as implementation, can be seen as an outstanding example of German Neo-Renaissance style in Latvia’s history of architecture. Interest in this architectural trend of Neo-Renaissance, rooted in Northern Renaissance and Mannerism, was on the rise since the 1870s and was seen as expressing the commissioner’s wish to belong to the German cultural space. Neuburger’s design was probably supplemented and executed by the architect and art historian Johann Wilhelm Carl Neumann (1849–1919) as they had collaborated previously. Both architects represented Late Historicism in their output and implemented Neo-Renaissance forms, using the German trend of Northern Renaissance as a source of inspiration for new buildings. Neumann also sought to belong to his own age, studying and utilising its innovations, thus combining Historicism with the modern Art Nouveau. Constructive and decorative metalwork with typical Art Nouveau ornaments found in Koknese Manor House can testify to Neumann’s contribution. In line with Historicism’s international nature, not only historical but also contemporary architecture could have provided models for Koknese Manor House. Some examples are Neues Schloss Hummelshain (1880–1885) designed by the architects Friedrich Stegmüller (1902–1981) and Ernst von Ihne (1848–1917) as well as the reconstructed Schloss Boitzenburg (1882–1884) by the architect Karl Doflein (1852–1944). An analogy to the Koknese Manor House design can be found in Schloss Weide (?–1889) by the architect Carl Schnitzler in Braunstedt.Baron von Löwenstern’s ambitions and financial means enabled him to commission high-quality architecture, reflecting the owner’s prestige, status and wealth in the manor house’s size, comfort level and the overall scale of the undertaking. The manor house’s architectural and artistic values allow us to list it among the most notable Neo-Renaissance examples in Latvia besides manor houses in Cesvaine, Stāmeriena, Vecgulbene and Veckārķi. Koknese Manor House is a considerable addition to the section of Latvia’s architectural history dealing with Neo-Renaissance mansions, demonstrating the spread of contemporary European tendencies creatively used by the architects of Latvia.
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Psychogallery Chaos Faza 3 was functioning in Łodz for only 8 months, from June 1988 to January 1989. Its ephemeral character was closely linked with the kind of art performed by the creators of the site: fleeting, situational, and underground. A challenging and confrontational attitude, both in the aesthetic and political aspect, positioned the main figures involved in the Chaos Faza 3, Sławomir Kosmynka (a.k.a. “Cadio Rebel”) and Ewa Bloom Kwiatkowska, on the margins of the artistic and cultural life of the 1980s. At the same time that was the margin that broke the discursive frames of that period. The themes of fascism, violence, and anarchy, which were explicitly present in the creativity of the Chaos Faza 3 circle, transgressed the veins of the academism, the neo-avantgarde that was just gaining its institutional status in those days, and the so-called church art. Despite their expressive capacity, artworks by Kosmynka and Bloom Kwiatkowska were not contained in neoexpressionism, while their provocative features did not locate them close toward neo-dadaism, nor surrealism. The article describes the actions and attitudes of the artists associated with the Chaos Faza 3 gallery in the light of their own manifestos. The aim is to expose the specificity, originality, and subversiveness of their works in the context of the phenomena of the 1980s culture. The crucial categories in this undertaking are the long 1980s, underground, and phantom.
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This article is devoted to Jakub Banasiak’s book Proteus Times. The collapse of the state art system 1982-1993. Martial law, the second thaw, political transformation. The author deals with the period of changes of the visual arts sector from the period after Martial Law to the first half of the 1990s after the political transformation in Poland. Reviewing this 500-page publication, I would like to draw attention to the three most important threads touched upon by Banasiak, which make his book worth attention and broaden the discussion on patronage and state interventionism in the area of culture. The first concerns the changes, which gradually lasted almost a decade, and not just a year, as is often accepted when talking about 1989. The second concerns adopting a perspective that rejects the totalitarian paradigm, i.e. looking at the period of the Polish People’s Republic of in a broader spectrum, taking into account the many factors of its functioning through the prism of both the pros and cons of the system. The third one concerns describing the artistic scene without moralizing and not only in the dualism of collaboration-resistance, but also outlining a broader view of the context in which Polish art functioned in those years. I would also like to draw attention to the enormous amount of work Banasiak has done by conducting numerous searches, interviews and archive analyses, as well as to the enormous contribution his book makes to the discourse on the legacy of patronage in the Polish People’s Republic and how it can be applied to today.
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Harsh criticism and a polemic with the book by Jakub Banasiak Proteus Times. The collapse of the state art system 1982-1993. Martial the second thaw, political transformation, written in the form of an open letter by Józef Robakowski, who is one of the most important artists and witnesses of the history of art that Banasiak writes about in his book.
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