Baroque Tricksters: Architectural Games With the Viewer

iglesia_colegial_de_poznan_poznan_polonia_2014-09-18_dd_37-39_hdr.jpg, default, Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, St Mary Magdalene and St Stanislaus the Bishop in Poznań, polychrome on the vault of the nave, photo: Diego De

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Postmodernists were not the first to use architecture as a striking stage design and to toy with its viewer using optical illusions, twisted perspectives and buildings whose forms don’t quite follow the laws of physics. Let us see what was happening during the Baroque era!

Baroque architecture is largely defined by its lavishness, opulence and expressiveness of shapes. Still, the designers of the time were not only concerned with making a first impression. Many of them were playing a game with the audience, trying to deceive and impress them with their artistic virtuosity. Let us unveil some of the tricks used by Baroque artists.

The three dimensions of architecture

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Church of Our Lady of Grace and Saint Adalbert in Łowicz, photo: Farfalla87/Wikimedia group

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Architecture is three-dimensional – that much is clear, but Baroque architects sought not only to emphasise the three-dimensionality, but also to use it to create striking forms. Let us look at the façade of the Church of St Joseph of the Visitationists (the Visitationist Church) in Warsaw, built in the mid-18th century (Karol Bay and Efraim Schroeger, among others, worked on its design). This decorative edifice seems to consist of traditional elements: columns, sculptures and cornices. However, if you look at it more closely, you notice that the architects have treated the front wall of the church as mouldable, almost ‘fleshy’, as if each architectural detail might have been carved out in it.

Thumbnail — Visitationist Church in Warsaw, photo: Adam Ławnik/East News

A similar effect can be admired on the façade of the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Krzeszów, which belongs to the complex of the abbey of the Order of Cistercians and is one of the most precious Baroque monuments in Poland. The multifaceted effect of this soaring 1830s edifice with its two towers was achieved by, among other things, juxtaposing rounded and angular details, plaster and stone. The architects who designed the Church of Our Lady of Grace and St Adalbert in Łowicz (another façade that dates back to the 1830s) went even further in creating the impression of the ‘fleshiness’ of a wall that is made of stone, after all. Here, the front wall of the church undulates and bends, hollows and bulges, undermining the massiveness of the material it is made of.

Horror vacui

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Church of St Peter and St Paul in the Antakalnis neighbourhood of Vilnius, photo: Nando Lardi/Getty Images

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Horror vacui, that is, the fear of empty spaces, is a term to describe the tendency in art of filling of the entire surface of a space with detail. This fear of unpainted surfaces was experienced, for example, by painters decorating Greek vases or artists decorating Muslim temples; horror vacui is also typical of Baroque art, including architecture.

This tendency is exemplified by the interior of the Basilica of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Bernardines in Leżajsk, and notably the gilded pipe organ adorned with carvings that was specially designed for this space in the late 17th century. Whereas, in Leżajsk, gold ornaments contrast with the black plane of the organ case, the interior of the Church of St Peter and St Paul in the Antakalnis neighbourhood of Vilnius is mostly white. The impressive monochrome stucco decoration of the interior of this Baroque temple is embellished with more than two thousand sculptures adorned not only with floral ornaments but also biblical, mythological and historical scenes. The richness of ‘fleshy’ decorations also determines the character of the interior of the Vasa chapel, a national mausoleum of the Vasa royal family at the Wawel Royal Castle, where horror vacui is particularly pronounced in the dome crowning the interior of the black-and-gold chapel.

Grand illusion

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Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Kraków, photo: iStockphoto/Getty Images

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Deceiving viewers is probably one of the favourite tricks of Baroque architects and painters, many of whom excelled in their ability to create illusions. Kacper Bażanka, a Polish architect – probably from Podlasie – who lived from around 1680 to 1726 was one of the most skilled illusionists in architecture. He had an outstanding feel for the effects of the scattering of light, which Baroque interiors often used to create visual effects.

In the churches he designed, such as the Church of Norbertine Sisters in Imbramowice or the Piarist Church and Missionary Church in Kraków, Bażanka sneaked in windows that were concealed from worshippers’ view but that shed light directly on key church furnishings. He also mounted mirrors so that rays of sunlight would, in ways mysterious to observers, lift fragments of the altar out from the darkness. The architect created illusions using his excellent knowledge of geometry and how human vision works.

Thus, the fence of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Kraków bears a number of sculptures in a way that conceals the fact that the church’s façade stands somewhat at an angle to the street. Bażanka placed the sculptures at a distance from each other, on pedestals laid out in a diamond-shaped plane. As a result, viewers are convinced that all the planes in the composition are parallel, the angles are straightened out and the sculptures appear symmetrical!

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Holy Cross Church in Brzeg (frescos), photo: Krzysztof Chojnacki/East News

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In the Baroque era, the painters who collaborated with architects to create interior frescoes and ornaments were also virtuosos of illusion. It was extremely popular, onto church walls and vaultings, to paint architectural features that appeared three-dimensional. One masterpiece of such illusions can be admired in the artwork of the Jesuit painter Jan Kuben, who created the frescoes in the Holy Cross Church in Brzeg between 1739 and 1745. The artist created the impression that there is no vault above the nave but, rather … a sky that successive tiers of ornamented colonnades reach up to. Similar artworks can be admired in other Baroque churches such as the Church of Sending of St Apostles in Chełm, the Basilica of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Święta Lipka, the Cathedral of St John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in Lublin, and others.

Designed with flair

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Święta Lipka Sanctuary (the Holy Linden), photo: Wojciech Wójcik/Forum

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Impressiveness, grandeur, richness of form and ornamentation are inherent in Baroque architecture. In religious buildings (which include many valuable Baroque edifices), this was intended to arouse admiration, awe and humility in church-goers. The Baroque era was the time of the Counter-Reformation, the revival of the power and importance of the Catholic Church. One way of achieving this was to build impressive, ornate buildings, including at pilgrimage sites. Marian shrines in Święta Lipka or Wambierzyce are impressive in their scale. The very exterior of the mighty, richly decorated edifice was designed to impress believers. It was a symbol of the power and might of the church to be experienced by a pilgrim climbing the huge, wide staircase to the basilica in Wambierzyce or standing at the foot of the soaring towers of the church in Święta Lipka.

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Basilica on the Holy Mountain in Głogówko near Gostyń, photo: Wojtek Wilczyński/Forum

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But the grandeur of Baroque could also feature at secular sites. After all, the Royal palace and park in Wilanów are very impressive. The suburban residence of John III Sobieski is magnificent in both scale and richness of decoration. The church in Głogówko near Gostyń was intended to serve both private and religious purposes. Its construction was the brainchild of the prematurely departed Adam Konarzewski. The investment was finalised by his widow, Zofia (née Opalińska). It was she who decided to erect a copy of the Venetian Santa Maria della Salute designed by the architect Baldassare Longhena who probably also developed the concept of the Basilica on the Holy Mountain in Głogówko.

Overwhelmed by decoration

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Leopoldina Lecture Hall in the main building of the Wrocław University, photo: Piotr Błaszczyk/CC BY-SA 3.0/Wikimedia.org

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Baroque architecture was intended to serve a wide variety of purposes with its rich decorations – to mesmerise and dazzle, but also to overwhelm and intimidate, educate and engage, like the interior of the Poznań Fara (Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Maria Magdalene and Saint Stanislaus). Here, the soaring columns dividing the naves, the massive architectural details, the coldness of stone and dark colours make the visitor abashed, to say the least. The interior of the church enchants but at the same time makes one feel small when confronted with the might of the church.

Ołtarz główny w katedrze w Oliwie, 1688, autor nieznany - fragment., fot. Jakub Jagiełło — Main altar in the Oliwa Cathedral, 1688, author unknown - fragment, photo: Jakub Jagiełło

The unusual decoration of the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Trinity in Oliwa, Gdańsk, pursued a different aim. The remarkable form of the main altar, shaped like a huge cloud filling the chancel, is visible from behind the gilded curtain. The delightful and enchanting heads of angels emerge from the cloud, evoking lofty feelings. A different idea underpinned the impressive decoration of the Leopoldina Lecture Hall in the main building of the Wrocław University. Its elongated interior with a relatively low ceiling is packed with sculptural decorations and illusionist paintings that convey a wealth of content, from the glorification of the university’s founder, Leopold I, through symbols of power and wisdom and portraits of rulers and dignitaries, to images of famous poets, scientists, scholars and writers. Here, decoration became a means of emphasising the importance of the interior and university itself, honouring influential figures and, at the same time, passing on their memory to the next generation of students.

Translated from Polish by Natalia Mamul

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