Architecture of the Order of Trinitarians in the lands of the former Republic of Poland

lecture by dr Mirosława Sobczyńska-Szczepańska

27.2.2020

On behalf of the Museum of Architecture in Wrocław and the Wrocław Branch of the Association of Art Historians, we invite you to a lecture by Mirosława Sobczyńska-Szczepańska, PhD, dedicated to the architecture of the Order of Trinitarians in the lands of the former Republic of Poland.

The lecture will take place on Thursday 27 February at 17:00 and it will be presented in polish.

The Brothers of the Order of the Holy Trinity from the Slave Ransom, brought to the Republic of Poland in 1685, erected nineteen brick church and monastery buildings within its pre-partition borders. Their architecture is not subject to a clear assessment. The buildings which are part of the local building tradition are distinguished by those in which rare or previously unused solutions were applied in the Polish-Lithuanian state. The church in Vilnius Antokol (1694 - c.1740), built on the plan of a regular octagon, has a domed vault, twice as high as the walls, and a façade with diagonal towers. The central or central-long temple in Teofilpol (c. 1740-1746), crowned with a monumental dome on the tambour, preceded by a two-tower two-tower façade, was the most outstanding example of the reception desk designed by Carl Fontana for Ecclesia Triumphans. The churches in Trinitopol (1715-1721) and Orsha (1725-1735), founded on the plan of an elongated octagon, with a transverse axis accented with transept chapels, are ahead of other Polish-Lithuanian temples with such an interior, additionally enriched with diagonal chapels. The Borromean forms of the façade of the Cracow Trinitarian Church (1752-1758), designed by Francesco Placidi, make it one of the leading Polish projects in the radical Baroque trend. This group also includes the central-long church in Krotoszyn (1767-1774), erected in a canopy construction, with a ”two-layer” structure and a dynamic, one-tower façade, considered to be the best Polish stamp of influence by Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer, the continuator of Guarin Guarini’s creative experiments. The facades of the Trinitarian temples in Lutsk (1720-1729) and Brahilov (1767-c. 1780) attract attention with a composition based on the interpenetration of the great and small order, in which an echo of the scheme created by Andrea Palladio resounds. Trinitarian axial ensembles were or were to be formed in Brest-on-the-Bug, Amber, Brahilov, Lviv (in the Halytsky suburb), Teofilpole and Tomaszów Lubelski. The monks who came from Spain were able to adapt to the new social and cultural realities and different building traditions, without giving up on transplanting new concepts to the Polish-Lithuanian soil. The result of this attitude is a group of buildings characterized by innovative forms and high artistic class.

We invite you!