Ikonografia Krypty Zasłużonych – panteonu narodowego na Skałce w zbiorach fotograficznych Muzeum Historycznego Miasta Krakowa

Abstrakt

ICONOGRAPHY OF THE VAULT OF DISTINGUISHED POLES – THE NATIONAL PANTHEON “ON THE ROCK” (NA SKAŁCE) IN THE COLLECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS AT THE HISTORICAL MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF KRAKÓW

The Historical Museum of the City of Kraków is the proprietor of a substantial collection of valuable photographic documentation associated mainly with Kraków (the collection includes many thousands of photographs and negatives). A small, yet a very important part of the collection (consisting of 355 artefacts, including 146 negatives and 209 photographs) is the photographic iconography of the Pauline Fathers’ Church at Skałka. The oldest photographs in the collection were taken in the 2nd half of the 19th century, whereas the youngest come from the 1970s. The oldest photographs of Skałka include the glass plates and photographs produced by famous Kraków photographic workshops. Particularly interesting is the group of photographs made by the “Światowid” Photographic Agency in the interwar period. A considerably large group of photographs taken by Henryk Hermanowicz (a famous photographer) documents the look and condition of the church at Skałka over the 1960s and 1970s. The Museum’s collection of photographs documentingthe history of the church at Skałka can be divided into 4 distinct thematic groups. The first group includes overall views of the area, the architecture of the church and monastery complex together with its surroundings and interior design. The second group documents the celebrations featuring the procession commemorating St Stanislaus the Bishop. The third documents the Vault of Distinguished Poles (Krypta Zasłużonych) with the sarcophagi of the eminent people who were buried there. And, last but not least, the fourth group consists of photographs taken during the funerals and death anniversaries celebrated in the vault. The oldest picture of Skałka in the Museum’s collection is the photograph taken around 1865 by Walery Maliszewski, whereas the oldest pictures documenting specifically the Vault of Distinguished Poles are the two glass plates manufactured around 1898 in the photographic workshop run by Ignacy Krygier.