Strzelno Columns - A Detailed Description

Dr. Joanna Szczesna, Catholic University of Lublin, Poland

In the Holy Trinity church in Strzelno, there are four columns. They are dated to the end of the 12^th century. This assessment is based on their architectural details and on historical grounds.  There is  high interest relating to the north-eastern and southeastern pair of columns – they are unique throughout Europe – with their figuratively decorated shafts.  The primary interpretation of the images in the arcades of these columns as personifications of Virtues and Vices was made by their discoverer, Zdzislaw Kepinski (Odkrycie w Strzelnie, „Biuletyn Historii Sztuki i Kultury”, vol. 8, 1946, pp. 202-207).  Identification of the figures was possible due to the attributes or gestures, and because of their clothes.  Zygmunt Swiechowski (Studia nad rzeźbą w Strzelnie, „Rocznik Historii Sztuki”, vol. 8, 1970, pp. 61–116) and Krystyna Rozalia Markowska (Ikonografia cnót i przywar na kolumnach w Strzelnie, „Studia Zrodloznawcze”, vol. 26, 1981, pp. 79–111) who are experts on the iconography of these columns, could not identify all the figures.  This was achieved by Zbigniew Sroka (Romanskie kolumny w Strzelnie. Ikonografia, Gniezno 2000), whose discerning studies of the monuments and of the culture (including monastic culture) of the second half of the 12^th century led to a most probable evaluation of each of these figures.

INTERPRETATION OF PERSONIFICATIONS ACCORDING TO ZYGMUNT ŚWIECHOWSKI:

Personification of The Virtues on the south-eastern column:

Personification of The Vices on the north-eastern column:

INTERPRETATION OF PERSONIFICATIONS ACCORDING TO KRYSTYNA ROZALIA MARKOWSKA:

Personification of The Virtues on the south-eastern column:

Personification of The Vices on the north-eastern column:

INTERPRETATION OF PERSONIFICATIONS ACCORDING TO ZBIGNIEW SROKA:

Personification of The Virtues on the south-eastern column:

Personification of The Vices on the north-eastern column:

The poses and the gestures of some figures refer to the solutions discovered in Antiquity. The personification of Impurity may be seen as one of the examples where Vice is represented as a naked woman in a pose characteristic for the antique representations of Venus (mostly Venus Pudica). The personification, unanimously interpreted by the three researchers as Wrath and shown as a woman pulling out her hair, can also have an antique origin. This was the way Mourners were presented in Antiquity.  In the Christian context, this manner of representation can indicate the personification of Despair (Desperatio).

The images are considered unique due to their location – it was most common to place personifications of Virtues and Vices on the facades of churches.  Static presentation of the figures is also characteristic of this particular imagery, as it was most common to portray the dynamic fight between the Virtues and the Vices.

In those interpretations the use of the Virtues and the Vices motives to decorate the architectonic cantilevers shows the inspiration found in treatises which were written for the use of the nuns and very popular in monastic circles, or even by themselves, such as Speculum Virginum which described The Trees of Virtues and Vices; works of the Benedictine nun Hildegard of Bingen, particularly Scivias and Ordo Virtutum and Hortus Deliciarum of Herrad of Landsberg. The miniatures which illustrated the works of Hildegard of Bingen could have served here as an intermediary between the text and the sculpture imagery.

In accordance with the symbolism of the parts of the world, personifications of the Vices were placed on northern column, and personifications of the Virtues on the southern one. The ideological message is confirmed by the closeness of the altar, these personifications can be understood in the context of the liturgical formula confiteor.