page_title: Mannerist architecture and sculpture in Poland
section_title: Conditions of development and features
hierarchical_section_title: Mannerist architecture and sculpture in Poland / Conditions of development and features
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Synagoga w Zamościu (wnętrze) English: Synagogue in Zamość (inside)
context_page_description: Mannerist architecture and sculpture in Poland dominated between 1550 and 1650, when it was finally replaced with baroque. The style includes various mannerist traditions, which are closely related with ethnic and religious diversity of the country, as well as with its economic and political situation at that time. The mannerist complex of Kalwaria Zebrzydowska and mannerist City of Zamość are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
context_section_description: The period between 1550 and 1650 was a Golden Age of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (created in 1569) and a Golden Age of Poland. It was a time of economic prosperity due to grain trade. Grain was kept in richly embellished granaries (e.g. in Kazimierz Dolny) and transported along the Vistula to the main port of Poland - Gdańsk, where it was sold to the Netherlands, England, France, Italy and Spain (about 80% of the city's revenues in the beginning of the 17th century came from grain trade). It was also the time of religious tolerance due to the Warsaw Confederation (1573).
  Poland was a multinational (Poles, Ruthenians, Jews, Germans, Italians, Dutch, Flemish, Armenians, Scots, Bohemians, Tatars) and multi-religious country (Roman Catholics, Orthodox, Greek Catholics, Calvinists, Lutherans, Muslims, Polish Brethren, Hussites and many others). All those nations and worships contributed to creation of the exceptional diversity of mannerist architecture and sculpture in Poland. The first half of the 17th century is marked by strong activity of the Jesuits and Counter-Reformation, which led to banishing of progressive Arians (Polish Brethren) in 1658 and which has its reflection in architecture (spread of baroque). Despite that Poland remain a "country without stakes". All the major wars and military conflicts were conducted far from the territory of today's Poland, so the country could developed equally. Those favorable conditions are the reason why mannerist architecture and sculpture in Poland left so many beautiful examples.
  The mannerist architecture and sculpture have two major traditions: Polish-Italian and Netherlandish (Dutch-Flemish), that dominated in northern Poland. The Silesian mannerism of South-Western Poland was largely influenced by Bohemian and German mannerism, while the Pomeranian mannerism of North-Western Poland was influenced by Gothic tradition and Northern German mannerism. The Jews in Poland adapted patterns of Italian and Polish mannerism to their own tradition.
  The major inspiration for many structures in Poland was early renaissance constructions at Wawel Hill - Sigismund's Chapel (1519–1533), tomb of king Sigismund I inside the chapel (1529–1531) and Wawel Castle's arcade courtyard (1506–1534), as well as buildings in Antwerp - City Hall (1561–1565), houses at Grote Markt and funeral sculptures by the Flemish artist Cornelis Floris de Vriendt. In conclusion the main criterion of differentiation between types of mannerism in Poland is the source of inspiration and in many cases the founders conception played an essential role for the final shape of the construction (e.g. Tomb of Jędrzej Noskowski in Maków Mazowiecki by Willem van den Blocke, is an example of Polish mannerism inspired by Tomb of Sigismund I with a founder depicted sleeping).
  Triangle gables of late Gothic origin and large windows are the features of Dutch urban architecture in Northern Poland. The Polish mannerism, though largely dominated by Italian architects and sculptors, has its unique characteristics that differentiate it from its Italian equivalent (attics, decorational motives, construction and shape of buildings, Dutch, Bohemian and German influences). Among notable architects and sculptors of Netherlandish Mannerism in Poland were Anthonis van Obbergen, Willem van den Blocke, Abraham van den Blocke, Jan Strakowski, Paul Baudarth, Gerhard Hendrik, Hans Kramer and Regnier van Amsterdam and of Polish/Italian mannerism Santi Gucci, Jan Michałowicz of Urzędów, Giovanni Maria Padovano, Giovanni Battista di Quadro, Jan Frankiewicz, Galleazzo Appiani, Jan Jaroszewicz, Bernardo Morando, Kasper Fodyga, Krzysztof Bonadura, Antoneo de Galia and many others.
  The architecture of the 16th-century Polish mannerism is marked by common usage of richly embellished attics of palaces and houses, arcade courtyards and side towers. The church architecture combined the late gothic tradition with renaissance symmetry and mannerist decoration. Churches were slender, usually without towers. The 17th-century Polish mannerism characterize with 
caption: Interior of the Sephardic Synagogue (1610-1620), Jewish-style mannerism (influenced by Lublin renaissance), Zamość
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