Dawne Śląskie Seminarium Duchowne w Krakowie w świetle kwerendy archiwalnej

Abstract

THE FORMER SILESIAN SEMINARY IN KRAKÓW IN THE LIGHT OF PRELIMINARY ARCHIVAL RESEARCH

The building of the Silesian Seminary in Kraków was erected to meet the pastoral needs of the newly established Diocese of Katowice. The present paper outlines the circumstances under which this decision was made. The monumental, three-wing edifice was designed by Zygmunt Gawlik and Franciszek Mączyński and built in the years 1926–1928. Its austere shape, symmetrical forms and plain windows give the building its modern character. It represents modernism, while also paying a tribute to tradition, hence, the architectural details, low reliefs, the grating decorated with dragon heads. The building is not stylistically consistent – on the one hand, we have the two architects who designed it in tandem, and on the other hand we have a group of curial officers from Katowice, headed by bishop Stanislaw Adamski himself, supported by a team of architects from Katowice and Poznań who tried to correct the design and offered advice during the construction process. The paper reveals that the building underwent substantial transformations in terms of the geometry of the roofs and the elevations, compared to the original architectural design; the form and function of its surroundings proved to be equally changeable. The author has determined the names of the majority of the group of young artists who were involved in the process of decorating the seminary building under the direction of Xawery Dunikowski, e.g. identified the creators of specific low reliefs in the chapel. New findings have been made regarding the low reliefs representing the Evangelists which constitute the building’s visual trademark. In the case of the building of the Silesian Seminary, history and architecture intertwine in the most spectacular way. Each modification in the building’s architecture and furnishings has strong roots in the past. As a result of the preliminary research conducted in the archives of Kraków and Katowice, the paper has been enriched with previously unknown photographic material, e.g. photographs documenting the damage done to the building in January 1945 which has been largely forgotten. The research has enabled the author to complement the knowledge about the building’s history in the period of the Nazi German occupation and in the postwar years.