Idea „świętych obcowania” w artystycznym wystroju XVIII-wiecznej Kaplicy Najświętszego Salwatora we Fromborku .......... 751
Synopsis
THE IDEA OF THE “COMMUNION OF SAINTS” IN THE ARTISTIC DECORATION OF THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY CHAPEL OF THE MOST HOLY SAVIOUR IN FROMBORK
The Warmian bishop Krzysztof Andrzej Jan Szembek erected the Chapel of the Most Holy Saviour adjacent to the cathedral in Frombork between 1732 and 1735. In elucidating the ideological content embodied in this chapel, the interpretative concept proposed by M. Hundemer – based on the so-called key of rhetorical construction – proves particularly useful.
According to this concept, before commencing the preparation of an appropriate space for housing the sacred relics he had assembled in Frombork Cathedral, the founder devised a comprehensive plan for the project in accordance with a previously adopted concept (inventio), which envisaged a centrally planned, domed chapel appended to the cathedral nave.
Subsequently, the individual components of the chapel’s decoration were arranged (dispositio): the placement of the reliquary altar and other furnishings was determined, and finally the painted decorative elements on the walls and within the dome were planned. determining the placement of the reliquary altar and other furnishings, and finally planning the painted decorative elements on the walls and within the dome. At the final stage, suitable means of artistic expression (elocutio) were selected to adorn the architectural structure of the chapel.
The application of this interpretative method makes it clear that the chapel was conceived primarily as a place for the preservation of holy relics, intended to inspire faith and veneration of the saints among the faithful, as well as to instruct and to render intelligible the idea of the “communion of saints”.
At the same time, it was meant to foster a strong awareness that the intercession of God’s saints encourages their imitation, and that their relics protect Holy Warmia and its inhabitants during a difficult period marked by war and heresy – fully in accordance with the intentions of the chapel’s founder, Bishop Krzysztof Andrzej Jan Szembek.
