Sigismund's Chapel

The Sigismund Chapel, also known as "King's Chapel " or " Jagiellonian Chapel ", is one of the nineteen chapels that surround the Cracow Cathedral.

The German art historian August food wine called 1867 " a renaissance pearl of the Alps ". It represents an example of Florentine Renaissance architecture outside Italy

History

After the death of Barbara Zápolya, the first wife of King Sigismund the Old of the widowed king decided to build a mausoleum of his dynasty.

The king commissioned the Florentine architect Bartolommeo Berrecci (1480-1537), who introduced him in 1517 the first drafts of the chapel.

Construction began in 1519 after the demolition of the Gothic Casimir's Chapel. The chapel was built to 1524 in its raw state, the dome was added in 1526, the end of construction was 1531. The chapel was consecrated in 1533.

When building helped Berecci another Italian artist Antonio da Fiesole, Niccolo Castiglione, Filippo da Fiesole, Bernardino de Zanobi Gianotis, Giovanni solos, Giovanni Cini da Siena and Giovanni Maria Padovano.

Architecture

The chapel was built on a square plan. The elliptical dome rests on an octagonal drum with round windows and is covered with fish scales made ​​of gilded copper sheet. The exterior walls are divided with pilasters and cornices. The only entrance is a latticed arch from inside the cathedral.

The project is an independent work Berreccis, has no analogues in Italy. There is only a remote resemblance to a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci.

Interior

Opposite the entrance arch is an altar, on the right the tombs of Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II Augustus, opposite the tombs left is a throne seat. In niches statues of saints are erected.

The walls are decorated with grotesque ornaments with mythological motifs and Panoplien.

The dome is divided with cassettes. Inside the cassette are stone rosettes. The lantern ceiling is surrounded by the inscription Bartholomeo FLORENTINO OPIFICE.

The tomb of King Sigismund I the Old arose after the draft of Berrecci. Tomb of Sigismund II Augustus is a work of Santi Gucci.

The Throne Seat of Berrecci was closed in front with a marble grave stone of Anne Jagiellonica by Santi Gucci.

The altarpiece (1531-1538) was built to a design by Hans Dürer by a group of Nuremberg artists. The bas-reliefs of the inside were driven to a design by Peter Flötner in silver plate by Melchior Baier. The outer sides of the altar wings fill Passion Pictures by Georg Pencz.

The grid at the entrance with the coat of arms of Poland, Lithuania and the Sforza (1530-1532) comes from the workshop of Hans Vischer.

Source

• Michał Rożek, Krakowska katedra na Wawelu. Wydawnictwo Sw. Stanisław BM Archidiecezji Krakowskiej, Kraków 1989