A unique drawing by Stanisław Wyspiański, entitled ‘Side view of the stalls in the Church of the Holy Cross in Kraków’, has been added to the collections of the National Museum in Kraków. It was created during the restoration of the Gothic interiors of the Church of the Holy Cross in Kraków, for which Wyspiański made tracings of the interiors, creating a record of the restored polychromy of the church.
“When the restoration of the Church of the Holy Cross began, intended to be on a very large scale, it was not yet possible to know what lay hidden within the interior, which appeared dilapidated and tattered with grime. Paintings, wooden altars and stalls were hidden beneath thick layers of dust; the interior was gloomy, menacing, wild, full of cobwebs, black and dark” – wrote Wyspiański in an article published in the Kraków-based “Życie” on 6 November 1897, devoted to the Church of the Holy Cross in Kraków.
In 1896, this Gothic church underwent a thorough restoration under the supervision of architects Tadeusz Stryjeński and – in the initial phase – Zygmunt Hendel, with funds for the project provided by the Kraków City Savings Bank. In August of that year, Stryjeński and Hendel proposed to Wyspiański that he prepare a design for the painted decoration of the church’s chancel and nave, so the artist set about making tracings of the church’s interior. Meanwhile, traces of earlier paintings were discovered inside the church right at the start of the restoration work.
Wyspiański’s role was therefore not so much that of a creator as that of a documenter of the polychrome decoration being uncovered in sections. The drawing of the side section of the shoulder backs of the stalls in the nave of the Church of the Holy Cross dates from precisely this period. It was published as an illustration for texts by MNK Wyspiański, which appeared successively in the Kraków press of the time in the pages of *Życie* (1897) and the *Kraków Yearbook* (1898).
Detailed description of the acquired item: Stanisław Wyspiański “Side view of the stalls from the Church of the Holy Cross in Kraków”, 1896;
drawing, pencil, paper; dimensions 72 x 24 cm, signed lower right in pencil within the composition: “SW”; below, in pencil: “Side view of the stalls in the Church of the Holy Cross in Kraków (1896, drawing by MNK Wyspiański)”.
Co-funded by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.
Targeted grant from the funds of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.
Project: Purchase of a drawing by MNK Wyspiański, “Side view of the stalls in the Church of the Holy Cross in Kraków”.
Value of funding for the task: PLN 70,000; total value of the task: PLN 71,400.
The funding agreement was signed in October 2024.
