Krakow high altar
The Kraków high altar in the Kraków St. Mary's Church is a pentaptych , a convertible altar with a main shrine, two fixed outer and two movable inner wings. The shrine is decorated with sculptures , the wings are decorated with reliefs . The carvings are partly colored, partly gilded. The theme of the altar is the glorification of Mary. The winged altar with its two sides is the first secured work by the late Gothic sculptor Veit Stoss and one of his main works.
History of the high altar
The old high altar from the 14th century was probably destroyed by the collapse of the choir vault in 1442. But it could also have been destroyed by fire. Three decades later, Krakow councilors and citizens advocated the purchase of a new altar. Since there were good economic relations with Nuremberg, an artist was found there in Veit Stoss, to whom the contract for the production of the altar was awarded. He must have traveled to Krakow in 1476 to plan, conclude a contract and procure the wood carving before he moved his residence there and bought a house in 1477. Tree trunks up to 500 years old were required to carve the largest figures. Since the thicker trunks for the sculptures in the main shrine took four to five years to dry, he began his work in 1477 by carving the flat wooden reliefs of the wings. He completed the new colored and gilded high altar in 1489. The citizens of Krakow donated 2808 guilders as a fee for this work. This amount is said to have corresponded to the annual budget of the then capital Krakow. Based on twelve years of work and in view of the fact that Veit Stoss also had to finance a workshop with employees with the money, this amount is considered rather small. In order to save money, the artist probably worked largely by hand. He also interrupted this activity several times for other work.
Extensive renovations of the altar took place in the years 1866–1871 and 1932–1933. During the Second World War, the Krakow high altar was confiscated by Kajetan Mühlmann and brought to Greater Germany by Hans Posse for the planned “Führer Museum” in Linz as looted art . To protect it from bombs, it was stored in the historical art bunker under Nuremberg Castle . After the end of the war, the altar was returned to the city of Krakow, treated for conservation from 1946 to 1950 and initially exhibited in the Wawel at the decision of the communist authorities . In 1957 the altar was returned to its original place in St. Mary's Church.
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With its height of thirteen and a width of eleven meters, it is the largest late Gothic carved altar and dominates the choir of the basilica . The convertible altar has two fixed outer wings and two movable inner wings, which allow you to switch between a weekday and a holiday side. Both the outer wings and the front and back sides of the inner wings are provided with reliefs. The main shrine is carved. The shrine figures made of linden wood, up to 2.70 meters high, are each made from one trunk. The frame of the altar is made of oak. The iconographic program of the altar is completed in the predella and in the crack .
The central theme of the winged altar is death , ascension and the coronation of Mary . It is framed by stories and motifs from the lives of Mary and Jesus. Almost all of the scenes are based on the Gospels to a greater or lesser extent on apocryphal sources or borrow from religious literature, especially that of the 13th century.
The everyday side, the closed front side
On the everyday side, colors dominate, gold plating is rather sparse. The uniform blue background color of all reliefs acts as a connecting element, with the background of the six reliefs on the right half being covered with gold stars. On the left, the stars are only found in the motif of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple. The closed wings show twelve scenes from the lives of Mary and Jesus:
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The first three reliefs relate to the time before the birth of Christ. The cycle begins with the announcement of the birth of Mary to Joachim by an angel. The second scene in this relief shows Joachim's encounter with his wife Anna at the Golden Gate. In chronological order from top to bottom the birth of Mary and in the third relief her passage to the temple are shown. The temple area is divided into two parts. While her parents are in an anteroom, Mary is alone in the sanctuary, where the future son Jesus appears as a child on the altar - a unique motif. Under the altar, the poor souls in purgatory are shown in the form of small children, waiting for their redemption.
To the right of this relief is the offering of Jesus in the temple, in which Simeon recognizes Jesus as the coming Savior. Above this picture one seems to recognize at first glance the story of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple. On closer inspection, one can see that Veit Stoss presented a story from an apocryphal source, namely that of the five-year-old Jesus in the school of Zacchaeus from the Arabic Gospel of Childhood . In the foreground, in front of Jesus, lies a philosopher on the ground who had asked him an astronomical question and, impressed by his answer, respects him as the highest teacher. Through Mary and Joseph, who find their son in the temple, the artist then builds a bridge to the motif of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple. With the dramatic imprisonment of Christ in the field above, there is now a great leap from the childhood of Jesus directly to the Passion.
On the right half the chronological order runs from top to bottom. The crucifixion is followed by the removal from the cross with the lamentation of Christ and his entombment. At the top right we see Christ in limbo, who redeems Adam and Eve and with it all of humanity. Mary is presented as the new Eve, so to speak. The three Marys at the grave are witnesses that Christ's body has also left the grave and was transformed, because Jesus speaks to Mary Magdalene the " Noli me tangere ", the prohibition to touch him when he appears to her as a gardener.
Minor deviations in the tables of the Passage of the Virgin Mary and the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple lead to the conclusion that Veit Stoss made and presented these two as trial works as early as 1476.
The holiday side, the open front side
The holiday side, especially the main shrine, is characterized by extensive gilding; The shrine and wings are combined to form a harmonious whole thanks to the uniform blue background. The blue vaults above the figures in the burst and the same-colored background of the predella also contribute to this impression. The background of the main shrine is dotted with stars. This also applies to the blue areas in the reliefs of Birth, Resurrection and Ascension. While on the wings the chronological sequence of the scenes runs from top to bottom, in the middle area, including the predella and cracks, the order is opposite and at the same time leads from the earthly genealogical roots to the highest heavenly spheres of the Throne of the Trinity .
The wings
The opened wings show the highlights from the lives of Mary and Jesus in six scenes. The major Christian celebrations from the Annunciation over Christmas, Easter, Ascension Day to Pentecost are shown here:
Parallel to the proclamation of the birth of Mary to Joachim on the everyday page, the feast day page begins with the proclamation of the birth of Christ to Mary and shows the dogma of the Incarnation of the Word of God. This is followed by the depiction of the birth with the shepherds adoring the baby Jesus. Joseph originally had a lantern in his hand that has been lost. The last relief on the left wing is about the Adoration of the Three Wise Men from the Orient and shows that scholars outside of the Jewish world have also recognized the truth about the Incarnation of God's Son. Veit Stoss shows the scholars as representatives of the three parts of the world and the three ages .
In the first image of the right wing, the resurrection, the flag of the cross in the hand of Christ has been lost. In the Ascension scene only the footprints of Christ on the top of the mountain are shown; the apostles' reaction to his ascension is shown. Slight damage can be seen in the field with the Pentecost event; the main character, the dove of the Holy Spirit, is no longer there, only the rays emanating from her hit Mary and the assembled apostles.
Left wing:
Annunciation
Left wing:
Nativity
Left wing:
Adoration of the Magi
Right wing:
Resurrection of Christ
Right wing:
Ascension Day
Right wing:
outpouring of the Holy Spirit
The main shrine
In the main shrine the "falling asleep" of Mary is depicted in the midst of the twelve apostles. Veit Stoss shows Maria in youthful beauty as she has sunk on her knees and is caught by Paul. Deviating from this interpretation, the apostle is also taken to be James the Elder in some sources. Next to the dying Mary, John on the right, who was the only apostle standing under the cross at Christ's death, and on the left, Peter. James the Elder and Andrew are among the five apostles shown in full size in the front row. Of the remaining seven apostles, there are only head or bust images in the background. What they all have in common is that they are not spectators, but rather carry out activities. One holds a censer, another a basin with holy water, a third extinguishes a candle, while another expresses his feelings, wringing his hands. It's like a scene in a play. The shrine has taken on the function of a stage.
The second scene above the heads of the apostles is the Assumption of Mary into heaven. Christ himself came to fetch his mother. Three pairs of angels carry the two up; two are arranged on the side, a pair below them. Four angels making music accompany the group. Of the apostles, only Thomas directs his gaze to this event and thus establishes a connection between the two levels. According to the Vita rhythmica, a Latin text from the 13th century, only the "unbelieving" Thomas saw the body of Mary carried to heaven.
Above Gothic ornamentation, which is keeled up in the middle and provided with four figures of saints, an arch delimits the scene, which ends on both sides in the rectangular frame. In this frame there are figurines of the twelve minor prophets. The arch symbolizes the gateway to heaven. In the two corners above it are arranged in pairs, the four Latin church fathers , in the frame above the four great prophets. With the exception of the church fathers, the small figures are no longer in their original order.
Main shrine:
Death of Mary
Main shrine:
Death of Mary (detail)
Main shrine:
Assumption of Mary
The predella
In the predella there is a representation of the root of Jesse , the family tree of Jesus. From the body of King David 's father grows the trunk of a grapevine with fourteen ancestors of Jesus attached to its branches; the highest branch on the left leads to Maria. The Gospel of Matthew (Mt 1.17) speaks of two times fourteen generations; Veit Stoss limits himself to reproducing half of them in order to anchor Jesus' existence in history. The main trunk points upwards, towards the dying Mary and on to Christ, who takes Mary into heaven.
The burst
The bursting of the altar shows in the middle the coronation of the kneeling Mary by the Holy Trinity, flanked by two angels as representatives of the angelic choirs, and on the left the patron saint of Krakow, Saint Stanislaus and on the right Saint Adalbert , two national saints of Poland.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gottfried Sello, page 13
- ^ Zdzisław Kępiński, page 23
- ↑ Kajetan Mühlmann in Poland ( Memento of the original from December 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Zdzisław Kępiński, page 31
- ↑ Zdzisław Kępiński, page 33
- ^ Zdzisław Kępiński, page 35
- ↑ Zdzisław Kępiński, page 27
- ↑ Zdzisław Kępiński, page 36
- ↑ Michal Rozek, page 60
- ↑ Zdzisław Kępiński, page 44
- ↑ Rainer Kahsnitz, page 136
literature
- Gottfried Sello: Veit Stoss . Hirmer Verlag, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-7774-4390-5
- Michal Rozek: The St. Mary's Basilica in Krakow . St. Stanislaus BM Publishing House of the Cracow Diocese, Cracow 2001, ISBN 83-87960-92-6
- Zdzisław Kępiński: Veit Stoss . Warsaw 1981, ISBN 83-221-0138-4
- Rainer Kahsnitz: The large carved altars. Late Gothic in southern Germany, Austria and South Tyrol . Hirmer Verlag, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-7774-2625-3
Web links
- Gigapixel photo of the Wit Stwosz Altar in Kraków
- Ołtarz główny (Ołtarz Wita Stwosza) na portalu polska-org.pl (Polish)