Discovery of the Oldest Construction Phases of the Convent …
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sites that have survived in varying degrees of preservation and that are typically
characterised by a complicated archaeological and architectural stratigraphy.
These two turning points are the replacement of wood—a traditional material
that had been widely used in the Middle Ages—with stone, a new material that
required familiarity with new construction techniques and technologies, as well as
the introduction of ceramic bricks in the twelfth and thirteenth century. Its production
required access to deposits of and the skill to fire clay formed into cuboid blocks,
which gained much greater structural resistance and provided greater freedom in
shaping architectural form as a result of being processed in high temperatures.
2 History of the Convent
Ireneusz Płuska reports that clay was used as early as in the Neolithic period to build
shelters and earthen dwellings, and in the period prior to and during the early reign of
the Piast dynasty it was used as the outer cladding of the timber structures of defensive
gods so as to protect them from fire, but “the oldest instance of brick construction was
discovered on the grounds of the collegiate church in Tum near Ł˛ eczyca, supposedly
dated to the twelfth century” [1]. However, there can be no doubt that it is the
convent of the Order of St. Dominic in Sandomierz, with the church of St. Jacob,
that is “the greatest jewel of early medieval brick architecture… built by bricklayers
who had arrived directly from Lombardy” [1], a remarkable document of technical
and architectural perfection and proof of the existence of ties and cultural contacts
with northern and western circles of European building and artistic schools. The use
of brick blocks, particularly in the basal parts of the lowest level in the buildings of
the Sandomierz convent, blocks with a doubled dimension of a standard brick, i.e. 14
× 20 × 28, often constitute the first layer of a brick wall, laid on a stone foundation.
The unique architectural decoration of the Dominican church and the oldest, wellpreserved eastern wing is based on serially produced cornice blocks, arches and
splayed windows, surround frame lenses and friezes placed underneath eaves and on
gables. The cornice blocks that were uncovered have a profile with a clearly ancient
provenance, based on the composition of a convex profile (trochilus) and a torus,
incorporated into the module of a brick block: 20 × 27–28 cm in dimensions and a
thickness of 13–14 cm (Fig. 1).
The architectural value of the heritage site, described by Jan Zachwatowicz in
the monumental version of Dzieje Sztuki Polskiej, in its third part—Architektura—
confirms that the structure we are dealing with in Sandomierz is a model work, one
that is innovative in every way and artistically perfect. He wrote: “The church of St.
Jacob in Sandomierz, along with its adjacent monastery, remains the most beautiful
example of Dominican architecture in Poland” [2], one that was built by a “highly
qualified” team that left mason marks and inscriptions with the following names:
JO[an]ES, NICOL[aus] and DANIHEL, and was probably “of Lombardian origin,
as the del Crocefisso church, a part of the San Stefano complex in Bologna, appears
91
sites that have survived in varying degrees of preservation and that are typically
characterised by a complicated archaeological and architectural stratigraphy.
These two turning points are the replacement of wood—a traditional material
that had been widely used in the Middle Ages—with stone, a new material that
required familiarity with new construction techniques and technologies, as well as
the introduction of ceramic bricks in the twelfth and thirteenth century. Its production
required access to deposits of and the skill to fire clay formed into cuboid blocks,
which gained much greater structural resistance and provided greater freedom in
shaping architectural form as a result of being processed in high temperatures.
2 History of the Convent
Ireneusz Płuska reports that clay was used as early as in the Neolithic period to build
shelters and earthen dwellings, and in the period prior to and during the early reign of
the Piast dynasty it was used as the outer cladding of the timber structures of defensive
gods so as to protect them from fire, but “the oldest instance of brick construction was
discovered on the grounds of the collegiate church in Tum near Ł˛ eczyca, supposedly
dated to the twelfth century” [1]. However, there can be no doubt that it is the
convent of the Order of St. Dominic in Sandomierz, with the church of St. Jacob,
that is “the greatest jewel of early medieval brick architecture… built by bricklayers
who had arrived directly from Lombardy” [1], a remarkable document of technical
and architectural perfection and proof of the existence of ties and cultural contacts
with northern and western circles of European building and artistic schools. The use
of brick blocks, particularly in the basal parts of the lowest level in the buildings of
the Sandomierz convent, blocks with a doubled dimension of a standard brick, i.e. 14
× 20 × 28, often constitute the first layer of a brick wall, laid on a stone foundation.
The unique architectural decoration of the Dominican church and the oldest, wellpreserved eastern wing is based on serially produced cornice blocks, arches and
splayed windows, surround frame lenses and friezes placed underneath eaves and on
gables. The cornice blocks that were uncovered have a profile with a clearly ancient
provenance, based on the composition of a convex profile (trochilus) and a torus,
incorporated into the module of a brick block: 20 × 27–28 cm in dimensions and a
thickness of 13–14 cm (Fig. 1).
The architectural value of the heritage site, described by Jan Zachwatowicz in
the monumental version of Dzieje Sztuki Polskiej, in its third part—Architektura—
confirms that the structure we are dealing with in Sandomierz is a model work, one
that is innovative in every way and artistically perfect. He wrote: “The church of St.
Jacob in Sandomierz, along with its adjacent monastery, remains the most beautiful
example of Dominican architecture in Poland” [2], one that was built by a “highly
qualified” team that left mason marks and inscriptions with the following names:
JO[an]ES, NICOL[aus] and DANIHEL, and was probably “of Lombardian origin,
as the del Crocefisso church, a part of the San Stefano complex in Bologna, appears