Tyniec Abbey
The Tyniec Benedictine Abbey ( Polish : Opactwo Benedyktynów Tyniec ; Latin: Monasterium Tinecensis ) is located near the Polish village of Tyniec , which has been a part of Krakow since 1973 . The abbey itself is located about 13 km southwest of Kraków, on a steep limestone cliff on the right bank of the Vistula . The monastery in Tyniec, founded in 1044, is one of the oldest Polish monasteries and one of three Benedictine monasteries in Poland.
history
On the hill on which the Benedictine monastery is located today, was already around the year 3000 BC. A settlement established. However, this hill on the Vistula only became important much later. Because in 1044 the monastery Tyniec King was Kasimir I. founded. The founding of the monastery fell at a time when the Poland of that time was severely weakened by pagan attacks and the Bohemian invasion and was in the process of decay. That is why the monastery of Casimir was intended to play a decisive role in the rebuilding of the empire. This is also shown by the appointment of the first Tyniec abbot, Aaron, as bishop of Cracow , who initiated a reform of the church structures in Poland in this office.
Construction of the monastery
In the second half of the 11th century the monastery was provided with stone buildings. The Romanesque monastery church took on about the dimensions of the present choir . To the south of the church, a cloister was built around which various monastery buildings were grouped. Tyniec developed into one of the most important and prosperous monasteries in Poland.
The 12th and 13th centuries brought severe devastation to the monastery. The abbey was first plundered by the Tatars in 1241 . Around 1305 the monks had spoken out in favor of the Polish heir to the throne Władysław I. Ellenlang and supported him in his project. In the following disputes with the Bohemian Přemyslids , which under Wenceslaus III. from Bohemia also claimed the Polish throne, the monastery was devastated.
However, Tyniec Abbey recovered from the destruction, so that in the 15th century the abbey was restored in a Gothic style. The monastery church was extended to the west and the monastery buildings enlarged to the south and west.
Poland's golden age, the 16th century, also helped the monastery flourish economically and culturally. Above all, the abbot's house was redesigned in a representative way, the stock of books was expanded and the teaching activities of the monastery expanded. But in 1604 the abbey was converted into a commander , which meant that the Polish king had the right to appoint an abbot of his choice to the Tyniec abbey . As a result, the monastery not only lost its former importance and self-administration, this reorganization was also incompatible with the rules of the order, which reserved the election of the abbot to the monastery brothers.
From 1618 to 1622 the monastery church was redesigned in Baroque style , giving the church its current appearance. Soon wars ravaged the abbey and its property. In the 18th century the monastery experienced an upswing, which is largely related to the closure of the Kommende in 1709. Tyniec became the center of the Polish Benedictines. Furthermore, new books were purchased for the monastery and the furnishings of the monastery church were expanded in the spirit of the Rococo .
Dissolution of the abbey and re-establishment
During the partition of Poland and Poland's loss of independence, the abbey became a center of resistance against Russian troops. This defensive battle causes severe damage to the monastery and the monastery buildings burn out. Since the First Partition of Poland, the monastery was part of the area ruled by the Habsburgs . Despite the difficult situation, the damage to the buildings was removed under Abbot Amand Janowski and the library was even enlarged. The abbey suffered the worst blow in 1816 when it was closed. Although the abbey regained a certain importance as a bishopric in 1821 , the bishopric was moved to Tarnów as early as 1836 . In this context, the German Benedictine Thomas Ziegler should be mentioned, who brought liturgical utensils and large parts of the library to Tarnów and thus saved them from impending confiscation by the Austrian authorities. They can still be found in this city today. In 1831 there was renewed destruction, this time the monastery roofs fell victim to a fire. The surrounding walls of the abbey have remained unused as ruins since then; the last Tyniec monk died in 1844. The monastery church was largely spared from the fire and has since been used by the local parish.
In the 1930s, the Belgian Benedictine monastery of St. Andreas became the reception center for Polish Benedictines. Cardinal Adam Sapieha , the great Krakow bishop, set up a Benedictine monastery again in Tyniec. The first eleven Benedictine monks under Karl van Oost arrived on July 29, 1939. This "re-establishment" of the Tyniec monastery survived the oppression during the German occupation, as well as under the communist dictatorship in Poland. After the Second World War (1947), the decision was made to make the monastery buildings, which had been destroyed and uninhabited for 116 years, usable again. The work dragged on until the late 1990s, with the monastery wings south and south-west of the monastery church being given new roofs. In 1968 the monastery was raised again to the rank of abbey .
Historical monument
The monastery complex was declared a historical monument (Pomnik historii) on March 30, 2017 by ordinance of President Andrzej Duda . With the historical city complex and the Kościuszko hill, it is one of the city's outstanding cultural monuments . With the monasteries and churches of Bielany and Salwator , the abbey was on the nomination list for UNESCO World Heritage from 1993 to 1996 .
Architecture and building history
Abbey church
The monastery church is dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul and occupies the central part of the Benedictine Abbey of Tyniec. Today's church goes back to a three-aisled Romanesque church from the 11th century, which was built from sandstone blocks and whose body was oriented towards the east. There were three apses at the exit of each nave, in the west was the portal front of the church, which was equipped with two towers. Thus the structure of this previous building corresponded to the current one, even if the size of the church at that time corresponded to that of today's choir . Many elements have been preserved from this building. Among them, above all, the south portal and the south wall of the old monastery church, as well as Romanesque columns and capitals , but also the stone slabs of the floor date from this time.
In the 15th century the church was rebuilt in the Gothic style . The two Romanesque front towers were torn down and the church was extended to the west. A new main facade with two towers was erected, the unplastered supporting pillars made of brick and limestone survived later renovations. In addition, three wings of the cloister and the chapter house are relics from this period. But the current floor plan of today's church, the Gothic windows with tracery and parts of the main portal can also be traced back to this conversion.
Finally, in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Peter and Paul Church took on its current, early baroque shape. In three construction phases, the most important of which was carried out from 1618 to 1622, the exterior was plastered and, above all, the windows and the towers of the main facade were structurally redesigned. Inside, the Gothic room layout was largely changed and replaced by an ornate barrel vault . In the place of the old aisles, six chapels were created , among which those of St. Benedict of Nursia and those of St. Scholastica of Nursia should be emphasized. The church received pieces of equipment that were mature examples of baroque art. The monks' choir was equipped with new choir stalls , which are decorated with depictions of the life of Saint Benedict and the Benedictines. A few years later, the furnishings in the monastery church were supplemented by Rococo elements . A pulpit in the shape of a ship and valuable black marble altars by Francesco Placidi were installed in the church. The new high altar was provided with a painting of the Trinity and with figures of the two church patrons Peter and Paul, which can also be found on the two pillars to the left and right of the main portal.
Stanisław Wyspiański made two new windows for the choir after the monastery fire in 1831, and the window on the west facade, which shows God creating the earth from chaos, was also made by Wyspiański.
Monastery building
The abbey buildings were built from limestone with brick elements and are partly from the Gothic period, but mainly from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. They surround the Peter and Paul Church from the west and from the south, where the cloister is also located. After the abbey fire in 1831, only the surrounding walls remained of the building. Only one side of the wall remained from the Gothic west wing.
In 1947 work began on restoring the monastery buildings. The new monastery roofs were covered with red roof tiles and given different roof shapes . During the wings around a cloister with simple gable roofs was covered, the south wing was given a hipped roof with Walmgauben , a small gable roof with bat dormers and large mansard roof with dormers just such. In the monastery there is a gallery of all the bishops of Krakow , including the picture of Bishop Stanislaus of Krakow . The Benedictines were very committed to his canonization and he eventually became one of the first patron saints in Poland.
After the abbey fire, in which the old painting was destroyed, Stanisław Wyspiański completely painted the abbey rooms in Art Nouveau style . Various flowers can now be found on the walls, which you can also discover in the great outdoors on an ordinary meadow.
In addition, a copy of the Turin shroud is kept in the abbey and in front of the monastery there is a monument to Krakow's mayor Józef Dietl , who initiated the rise of modern Krakow in the 1870s.
Items of equipment of the abbey
As a rich and important monastery, the abbey has always been the refuge of numerous art treasures, some of which are now housed in other places. From a grave in the monastery church, among other things, a chalice and a paten were recovered during excavations . These two well-known goldsmith works are Romanesque and date from the time the first monastery church was built. The paten shows an engraved representation of the blessing finger of Jesus protruding from the wafers .
There are also numerous important manuscripts from the abbey collections . The most famous piece is the Tyniecki Sacramentary (Tyniecki Sacramentarz) from around 1060, which was one of the first pieces of equipment for the Tyniec Benedictines. The sacramentary is one of the oldest of its kind in Poland and is now in the National Library in Warsaw . It is a magnificently illustrated code that can be seen in connection with Cologne influences. Sometimes it was written on purple with gold and silver . In the sacramentary there are numerous initials decorated with plant motifs, as well as four full-page illustrations. Especially the images of the Maiestas Domini (The Majesty of the Lord) , which shows Christ enthroned in a nutshell, surrounded by the four evangelists and two angels. In addition, the initial T in the form of Jesus crucified deserves attention.
Web links
- Website of the Benedictine Abbey of Tyniec ( Memento from April 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (Polish, English and German)
- Description of the monastery church (Polish)
- Benedictine Abbey in Tyniec
- panorama 360
Footnotes
- ↑ http://isap.sejm.gov.pl Rozporządzenie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 15 marca 2017 r. w sprawie uznania za pomnik historii 'Tyniec - zespół opactwa benedyktynów'. (Polish, Sejm document server ; accessed July 17, 2020)
Coordinates: 50 ° 1 ′ 7.4 ″ N , 19 ° 48 ′ 7.6 ″ E