Discovery of the Oldest Construction
Phases of the Convent of the Order of St.
Dominic in Sandomierz—Research
and Technical Conditions of Their
Conservation and Restoration
A. Kadłuczka and K. Stala
Abstract Following the ages-old trade route from Western Europe through Krakow
and Lviv towards the Kievan Rus’, when nearing Sandomierz—one of the Piast
dynasty’s sedes regni principalis—the traveller’s attention will first be drawn towards
the brick, compact massing of the monastery of the Order of Saint Dominic and, in
the background, the monumental massing of a church, dominating in the skyline
of the Hill of St. Jacob. The convent of the Order of St. Dominic in Sandomierz
is indeed a striking documentation of the perfection of architectural technique and
proof of cultural links and contacts with the northern and western circles of European construction and artistic schools. Adam Miłob˛ edzki, a well-known scholar of
Polish architecture, stated outright: “The church in Sandomierz belongs to some of
the best cases of early Dominican architecture in Europe”, describing its remarkable
ceramic decoration as “sophisticated” and bearing the marks of northern Italian buildings. Similarly, Jan Zachwatowicz, in his synthetic publication entitled Architektura
Polska, published in 1966 but written much earlier, characterised the rich ceramic
decoration of the Dominican complex as being of the Lombard type, simultaneously
pointing towards the archetypical alternation of architectural and decorative forms.
Zygmunt ´
Swiechowski noted the stylistic and technical diversity of the presbytery
and the nave, parts that some scholars consider uniform in terms of their spatial
proposal. The building technique of the first section was observed to operate using
simpler means of expression, which can be seen in its bonding, the manner of the
laying of the arcaded frieze, with diagonally placed bricks, while in the other—the
nave—we can see a more sophisticated and technologically improved ceramics. In
the literature we can find a well-entrenched view—based on surviving plans of the
convent from 1864, drafted just before its partial dismantlement—which assumes that
the initially planned complex did not differ substantially from the shape that survived
up to the middle of the nineteenth century. Meanwhile, archaeological research
conducted in the years 2016–2018 brought a series of surprising discoveries, casting
a completely new light on the beginnings of the Dominican monastery, confirming
A. Kadłuczka (B) · K. Stala
Faculty of Architecture, Institute of History of Architecture and Monument Preservation, Cracow
University of Technology, Kraków, Poland
e-mail: a-1@pk.edu.pl
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Z. Zembaty et al. (eds.), Environmental Challenges in Civil
Engineering, Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering 122,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63879-5_7
89
Phases of the Convent of the Order of St.
Dominic in Sandomierz—Research
and Technical Conditions of Their
Conservation and Restoration
A. Kadłuczka and K. Stala
Abstract Following the ages-old trade route from Western Europe through Krakow
and Lviv towards the Kievan Rus’, when nearing Sandomierz—one of the Piast
dynasty’s sedes regni principalis—the traveller’s attention will first be drawn towards
the brick, compact massing of the monastery of the Order of Saint Dominic and, in
the background, the monumental massing of a church, dominating in the skyline
of the Hill of St. Jacob. The convent of the Order of St. Dominic in Sandomierz
is indeed a striking documentation of the perfection of architectural technique and
proof of cultural links and contacts with the northern and western circles of European construction and artistic schools. Adam Miłob˛ edzki, a well-known scholar of
Polish architecture, stated outright: “The church in Sandomierz belongs to some of
the best cases of early Dominican architecture in Europe”, describing its remarkable
ceramic decoration as “sophisticated” and bearing the marks of northern Italian buildings. Similarly, Jan Zachwatowicz, in his synthetic publication entitled Architektura
Polska, published in 1966 but written much earlier, characterised the rich ceramic
decoration of the Dominican complex as being of the Lombard type, simultaneously
pointing towards the archetypical alternation of architectural and decorative forms.
Zygmunt ´
Swiechowski noted the stylistic and technical diversity of the presbytery
and the nave, parts that some scholars consider uniform in terms of their spatial
proposal. The building technique of the first section was observed to operate using
simpler means of expression, which can be seen in its bonding, the manner of the
laying of the arcaded frieze, with diagonally placed bricks, while in the other—the
nave—we can see a more sophisticated and technologically improved ceramics. In
the literature we can find a well-entrenched view—based on surviving plans of the
convent from 1864, drafted just before its partial dismantlement—which assumes that
the initially planned complex did not differ substantially from the shape that survived
up to the middle of the nineteenth century. Meanwhile, archaeological research
conducted in the years 2016–2018 brought a series of surprising discoveries, casting
a completely new light on the beginnings of the Dominican monastery, confirming
A. Kadłuczka (B) · K. Stala
Faculty of Architecture, Institute of History of Architecture and Monument Preservation, Cracow
University of Technology, Kraków, Poland
e-mail: a-1@pk.edu.pl
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Z. Zembaty et al. (eds.), Environmental Challenges in Civil
Engineering, Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering 122,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63879-5_7
89