The Choir Screen in the Dominican Church of the Holy Trinity in Cracow: Form and Function

Abstract

The paper demonstrates how modern metric survey techniques and digital technologies can contribute to traditional methods of art-historical investigation. The original choir screen in the Dominican church in Cracow, spanning the width of the chancel arch, was built in the mid-13th century. An analysis of the laser scanning data of the existing church enabled a construction of a 3D model of the subsequent and larger choir screen, built in the second half of the 14th century, which extended across the nave and both aisles and encased the initial screen. A keystone decorated with a carved boss of unique iconography, interpreted as a symbol of St John the Evangelist, survives from the carved decoration of this screen. The 3D model of the choir screen helps to visualize the original location of particular altars, some tombs and surviving artworks within the screen porch. Its north bay housed the tomb of Hyacinth Odrowąż, the first Polish Dominican friar and future saint. In 1543 the north part of the screen’s loft was cut off with a grille and transformed into a chapel of St Hyacinth, accessible to lay people by stairs running from the north aisle. The most important part of the chapel was a shallow niche which accommodated a new tomb and an altar with Hyacinth’s relics. Construction from 1581 to 1583 of a new and more spacious chapel, located slightly higher than the old one, involved demolition of the choir screen.