Iconography of the Patrocinium of the Assumption of Our Lady in Polish Cathedrals

Abstract

The article focuses on the problem of the iconography of the patrocinium of the Assumption. The interest in the problem has been limited to a group of contemporary Polish cathedral churches and their main altars. The examples that have been analysed allow a full presentation of the effect of patrocinium on the scene of the altar retable. The conclusions illustrate the rule according to which a new research method is functioning at the Church Art History Section of the Institute of History of Art at the Catholic University of Lublin. The method consists in analysing church patrociniums as one of the factors evoking the iconography of the Christian art.

Patrociniums directly effect creating sacred art since the title given to the church forces a reference to the invocation, and one of the best ways to refer to it is to illustrate it visually.

The aim of the present analysis is to study the agreement of the iconography of the main altar scenes in the Polish cathedrals with the patrocinium of the Assumption given to them. A study of the presentations in the main altars of the thirteen cathedral churches under the invocation of the Assumption shows that the rule of illustrating the patrocinium by means of a presentation in the main retable is not strictly observed. The group of cathedrals in which we can note an agreement between the title and the presentation consists of the following ones: in Białystok, Frombork, Kielce, Łowicz, Płock, Sosnowiec and Włocławek. In two cases: in Gdańsk and Pelplin, in the main altars there are two scenes connected with the figure of Mary, but presenting the scene of the Coronation. In the studied group there are four examples of a complete disagreement between the patrocinium and the presentation. The retables in the Gorzów Wielkopolski, Kołobrzeg and Przemyśl cathedrals illustrate events from Christ’s Passion; and in Gniezno the relic sarcophagus of St Wojciech has been put in the presbytery.

In all the cathedrals in which disagreement between the title and the altar scene was noted there are presentations referring to the Assumption of Our Lady. In Przemyśl the patrocinium of the cathedral is illustrated in the finial of a side altar, in Gorzów Wielkopolski images of the Virgin Mary from Polish sanctuaries placed in various parts of the church are a reference to the invocation; in the Kołobrzeg cathedral the God’s Mother’s altar consists of paintings devoted to the cult of the Virgin Mary; whereas in Gniezno the image of the Immaculate Conception placed in one of the side chapels refers to the scene of the Assumption.