The organisation of liturgical space and its furnishing at the Franciscan Friars’ in late Middle Ages illustrated by an example of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s church in Toruń

Abstract

At the turn of 14 th and in early 15 th century the sacred space of the Franciscan St Mary’s church in Torun was fully developed and adjusted to the mission and ministry of the Order of Friars Minor, equipped with altars, most important furniture and numerous paintings used in pastoral ministry and in encouraging lay piety. It was completed in the late 15 th cent., especially with woodwork (stalls, balustrades, crucifix). Decor and furnishing of ecclesiae fratrum (main altar, murals, choir stalls, as well as rood screen and its altars) are from today’s perspective much less palpable. Ecclesia laicorum is in that respect much better preserved (wall paintings, sculptures, baptismal font) or known against written sources (organ, cancel, grave plates) in spite of structural alterations and transformations resulting from denominational and functional changes. The analysed artefacts – though not so numerous, as the material sources significantly complement a skimpy archival base related with functioning of one of the most significant Prussian convents in Middle Ages.