Gałki wież depozytariuszami informacji z przeszłości. Pamiątki historyczne wydobyte z gałki wieży kościoła pw. św. Bartłomieja w Morawicy koło Krakowa w lipcu 2006 roku

Abstract

THE FINIALS CROWNING TOWERS AND STEEPLES AS DEPOSITORIES OF INFORMATION FROM THE PAST. HISTORIC ARTEFACTS DISCOVERED IN THE KNOB OF THE STEEPLE OF ST BARTHOLOMEW’S CHURCH IN MORAWICA NEAR KRAKOW IN JULY 2006

Steeples and ridge turrets of our churches are the chief landmarks of Polish cities, towns and villages. The element which always crowns the entire architectural structure is the spherical finial, usually onion-shaped or in the form of a bulbous cupola. Due to their localization the finials of steeples and towers are extremely hard to reach, therefore, our ancestors thought it would be a brilliant idea to store precious historic memorabilia which they considered worthy of passing down to the next generations exactly in such places – inside the spherical finials. The custom to put mementos connected with the history of a given church or secular building in the finial of its steeple is documented since the Middle Ages. The oldest document of that kind in Kraków dates to 1478 and has been discovered in the finial crowning the spire of St Mary’s Church. During restoration works on the towers the objects which had been deposited in the finials were usually taken out and passed on to various archives and museum collections, which is how the Historical Museum of the City of Kraków managed to acquire numerous artefacts which had been removed from the finial on top of the Town Hall Tower in Kraków. Morawica is one of the oldest settlements in the area surrounding Kraków. The church (designed by an Italian architect, Francisco Placidi) was erected there over the period 1743–1748, and consecrated on July 27, 1755. During restoration works on the ridge turret of the church in Morawica in July 2006 a number of extremely valuable historic artefacts documenting the history of the church and its neighbourhood were discovered in its finial: the fragments of two documents (dated 1767 and 1824), 23 coins, including three copper coins from the period 1767– 1789, 20 coins from the period 1794–1824, and two religious medallions from the period 1712–1820. On October 4, 2006 His Eminency Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, Metropolitan Bishop of Kraków consecrated the crosses crowning the newly-renovated roof of the church in Morawica. It was then that a number of “new” artefacts were deposited in the renovated copper finial of the ridge turret: two coins (1 copper groschen of King Stanislaus II Augustus dated 1767 and 1 Polish groschen dated 1824), as well as many contemporary artefacts and historic objects, e.g. various coins, commemorative medals, Solidarity Movement badges and Pope John Paul II’s rosary.