Shrines in Warmia & an Attempt at Marital Separation

kapliczka_przydrozna_ag.jpg, default, Roadside shrine, 'Różynka', photo: Przemysław Skrzydło/AG

The marriage of convenience called the Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodship, concluded between Warmia and Mazury in 1999, was preceded by a period of engagement, when these two regions intertwined in a strange braid of dependencies and nomenclature traps. For example, the museum located in the castle in Olsztyn – the capital of Warmia – was until 1975 officially called ... the Masurian Museum.

From the car window

Picture display

standardowy (864px desktop)

'Warmia. Historical border' plaque, photo: Przemysław Skrzydło/AG

Picture image

warmia._granica_historycznaag.jpg

When entering Warmia, we pass brown signs that inform us succinctly: 'Warmia. Historical border'. Taking road 51 from Olsztynek or the popular road 16 from Ostróda, we have to cross the border river Pasłęka, invisible from the road, which according to legend was created from the tears of an injured shepherdess-orphan, fleeing from the evil lady of the castle. The border of the region in the latter case divides the Gietrzwałd commune fairly, almost in half. What ensues are the typical Warmia views – gently undulating hills covered with forests. On S51, the landscape surprises us with something new every now and then, and on the left there is Lake Wulpińskie with the island of Herta, and in the distance the pulsating red light of the 'Warmia lighthouse', i.e. the radio and television mast in Olsztyn, one of the two tallest structures in Poland. On road 16, you can find a the soaring tower of the sanctuary in Gietrzwałd – the only place of Marian apparitions approved by the Church in Poland. From now on, the journey along the old routes of Warmia will be accompanied by typical Warmian signs-places – the little roadside shrines.

A 'Shriney' landscape

It is difficult to count how many shrines there are in Warmia, certainly over 1,300. As the authors of the monograph Warmińskie kapliczki [Warmia Shrines], Iwona Liżewska and Stanisław Kuprjaniuk write:

Text

Shrines and crosses associated with the Christian tradition are an important element of the landscape, a visible sign of religion, tradition and culture. They were erected at crossroads, along pilgrimage trails, on the borders of the state or episcopal estates, in the centres of villages and at farms, in cemeteries and by churches. They were a sign of entrusting oneself to God, a place of prayer and meetings or a testimony of thanksgiving.

And since Warmia belonged to Catholic enclaves, for which faith and religion were a very strong bond, the prevalence of chapels in this region made Liżewska and Kuprjaniuk call the local landscape 'shriney'. Only in the border town of Gietrzwałd there are several such facilities. Shrines have been erected in Warmia since the 17th century, but their real abundance took place after 1877. That was the year when the Mother of God appeared to two girls in Gietrzwałd, Basia Samulowska and Justyna Szafryńska, several dozen times, speaking to them in Polish and... ordering them to build a chapel in the place of the apparitions.

Signs-places continued

The religiosity of the Warmian people manifested itself not only in spiritual fervour and a set of religious rituals, but also needed a visible manifestation, more significant than a shrine or a cross.

Text

The village formed a closed entity with its own organization of holiness. The focal point of this area was a place of worship – a church or other sign of worship. First of all, the building of the temple stood out among the local buildings, it was more impressive and appealed with the richness of architectural forms. In this way, it was the strongest accent in the panorama of every major agricultural agglomeration, especially in rural areas. Most often, the dominant feature was the tower, which for many centuries in Warmia specifically was erected in wood.

Author

Janusz Hochleitner 'Warmińskie łosiery. Studium lokalnego pielgrzymowania'

Many wooden church towers have been turned to brick ones, but some can still be found in the landscape – such as those in the churches in Purda, Wrzesin or Nowe Kawkowo. Gothic brick churches of Warmia with a dominant tower over the entrance to the temple also exist in the panorama of twelve Warmian cities, although there, for obvious reasons, they will not subordinate the space so much.

Architecture of miracles

Picture display

standardowy (864px desktop)

Sanctuary in Stoczek Warmiński, photo: Wojciech Wojcik/Forum

Picture image

stoczek_klasztorny_forum_.jpg

Another thing that required a unique setting were miracles, and there was no shortage of those in Warmia. Miraculous figurines found in the river depths or on roadside trees, often moved to other places and returning on their own to point the Warmian people to a place of worship; animals that worshiped the sacred, such as one oxen from Głotów, which knelt in the place where the Blessed Sacrament was hidden for fear of profanation, or a bleeding crucifix from Braniewo, shot by Swedish soldiers, are just some of them. The miraculous events of divine intervention became a source of worship for religious Warmia and contributed to the establishment of Warmian sanctuaries.

Sanctuaries, most often Baroque in form, expanded and refurnished many times, formed entire architectural complexes, the destination of Warmian pilgrimages – Łosier. During church fairs, they had to accommodate many faithful who would gather not only in the church, but also in its immediate vicinity. The Warmia bishops could on the occasion showcase their generosity, funding not only the equipment of the pilgrimage teams, but also the entire settings, and thus, thanks to the patronage, emphasizing their unique position as the rulers of this land and patrons with an honourable place in the Senate of the Republic of Poland.

An exceptional role as patrons was played by Bishop Teodor Andrzej Potocki (founder of, among others, the Marian sanctuary in Krosno) and Bishop Mikołaj Szyszkowski, who in 1635 funded the sanctuary of Our Lady Queen of Peace in Stoczek Warmiński in gratitude for the peace with the Swedes concluded in Sztumska Wieś in 1635. It is worth noting that the most famous sanctuary – Święta Lipka – is located just outside the borders of Warmia, already in Masuria. However, it has all the features of a typical Warmian sanctuary: a miraculous painting surrounded by a cult, impressive Baroque architecture, a complex of cloisters and chapels allowing the faithful to gather not only inside the church, but also outside. Swieta Lipka was co-created by craftsmen from the nearby Warmian Reszel, and its illusionist paintings, which delight tourists to this day, are the work of Maciej Jan Mayer, a ward of Teodor Potocki, the bishop of Warmia.

Teutonic or episcopal

Picture display

standardowy (864px desktop)

Castle in Lidzbark Warmiński, photo: Wojciech Wojcik/Forum

Picture image

warmia_tablica_forum_.jpg

When being in Lidzbark Warmiński, I would many times hear: 'Oh, how beautiful this Teutonic castle is!'. And while the first part of the sentence is most suitable for this building, the second is less so, although even here one would find an excuse for the unaware authors of these delights. The Lidzbark castle was a bishop's castle, the episcopal capital, although architecturally this brick, medieval building is a great reflection of the characteristics of a Teutonic conventual castle. The relationship between the Teutonic Knights and the bishop is a rather complicated matter. Wasn't Anzelm, the first bishop of Warmia, a Teutonic Knight? And among the banners of the enemy captured by Jagiełło's army at Grunwald, described by Jan Długosz in Banderia Pruthenorum, were there not the banners of the Warmian chapter and the Warmian bishopric? Warmia, despite its high autonomy, fully freed itself from the Teutonic dependence and related obligations only with the second peace of Toruń in 1466 and maintained this independence until the first partition of Poland in 1772.

It maintained it even after the secularization of the Teutonic Order and Albrecht Hohenzollern's adoption of the Lutheran faith, when it virtually became an island of Catholicism on a sea of Protestantism. Whether the impressive edifice of the Lidzbark castle, proudly called by the locals 'the Wawel of the North', or other brick Gothic castles belonging to the chapter that once co-ruled Warmia (Olsztyn, Pieniężno) or to the bishops (such as Reszel, Braniewo) repeatedly shared the fate of the region, full of plot twists, such as the one in the story of the bishop's castle in Jeziorany – in 1414, during the Hunger War, captured by the army of Władysław Jagiełło, to repel the attacks of the henchmen of Mikołaj Tungen, supported by the Teutonic Order, during the clergy war in the late 1470s.

The eighth wonder of Poland

Picture display

standardowy (864px desktop)

Water and Ice Sailing Centre, Olsztyn, designed by Restudio Architektury, architects Rafał Jacaszek, Maciej Jacaszek, Grzegorz Porębski, photo: Marcin Kierul/BKS Olsztyn City Hall

Picture image

centre_of_ice_and_water_sports_ukiel.jpg

In 2011, Olsztyn received exciting news that Kortowo, the campus of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn (two lakes, Górka Kortowska, a stud farm, and modern architecture intertwined with brick relics of the former Kortau psychiatric hospital complex) received a Special Award in the '7 new wonders of Poland' survey of the 'National Geographic Traveler' magazine. Kortowo did not eventually become one of the seven wonders, but the Olsztyn campus was hailed as the eighth wonder, and the proud inhabitants of Olsztyn more and more boldly mentioned that the entire capital of modern Warmia deserves such a title. Because bitter-sweet love for the Warmian capital notices the minuses, but also appreciates the pluses of Olsztyn. In which other provincial city can you rest by a different lake every day for over two weeks?

The best sunrises are at Lake Ukiel, whose ominous name is said to come from the Prussian word 'auka' (sacrifice), the best sunsets in the city are on Kortowskie, a walk from the Old Town can take you to Długie, while Żbik Lake, although far from the centre, is worth many a walk. Warmia’s nature did not fully let itself be tamed and contained by the urban framework, although the recently opened ring road of the city cut off many residents from suburban forests, and significantly depleted these. And so, between urbanity and nature, Olsztyn is too big to be able to remain anonymous and too small to offer what capital cities offer. It is a beautiful city, but also full of unjustified inferiority complexes.

Linguistic hodgepodge

History is often most permanently recorded in names and language. There is no living Warmian dialect in Warmia left, although more and more hobbyists are learning to 'talk their own way'. However, there are still names referring to the Prussian, pre-Christian history of these areas, there are remnants of the German past and traces of recent history, when attempts were made to sort out the linguistic confusion, sometimes ineptly trying to reverse the course of history. The founder of Olsztyn came from the village of Łajsy. The name of this Warmia town comes from the smallest settlement unit of the Prussians – lauks. The local names ending in '-ławki' also come from lauks. And so we have Tuławki in Warmia, and in Masuria, which shares its Prussian past with Warmia, Bezławki or Sędławki. After 1945, in the Recovered Territories, names had to be put in order and unified, thus eliminating German names. For this purpose, at the beginning of 1946, the Commission for Establishing Names of Places and Physiographical Objects (Komisja Ustalania Nazw Miejscowych i Obiektów Fizjograficznych) was established.

By decision of the commission, the previously existing Polish names were returned, old Prussian or German names were polonized (e.g. Bischofsburg became Biskupiec, and Freuenburg – Frombork). Sometimes, attempts were made to overtly emphasize the Polishness of the region, giving towns names derived from the names of activists who contributed to Polishness. It was the Commission that decided that the pre-war Warmian Wartembork/Wartenburg became Barczew (in honour of Father Walenty Barczewski), and Melzak/Mehlsack Pieniężno (after Seweryn Pieniężny, the editor of the Polish-language Gazeta Olsztyńska). In the heat of action, not only German names, but also Old Prussian names were removed, blurring the identity of the region, and the administrative changes met with resistance from the local population or settlers. After more than 70 years, commission decrees no longer arouse emotions and have grown into the regional landscape, and remain telling of the complicated history of this region only to the initiated few.

In the Warmian rhythm

Picture display

standardowy (864px desktop)

Castle in Reszel, photo: Zenon Zyburtowicz/East News

Picture image

_reszel_zamek_en.jpg

Warmia, located off the beaten track, is too far from the centre to become a place for family weekend trips, too close to Masuria to withstand the competition of the famous land where 'you – across the lakes'. However, there is something here that makes it worth one’s while in the times of fast food and fibre optics. It's life in the rhythm of slow, eternal holidays, savouring the hours. No wonder that Warmia attracts inhabitants of large cities who are tired of living in a rush and that 9 out of 12 Warmia cities have joined the international Cittaslow Cities Network. The creation of the National Cittaslow Network was initiated by four towns from Warmia: Reszel, Lidzbark Warmiński, Biskupiec and Bisztynek; all of them with a low-key, intimate air to them, all with many stories that they willingly tell to hikers on the trail, but only to those who pay with what in the 21st century has become a rare currency to spare – one’s time.

Reaching the sleepy but charming Reszel outside the tourist season, located outside the main tourist destinations, is an investment of time, but with a favourable interest rate. What one will take from Reszel are memories; the taste of ice cream eaten in a summer garden with a view of the Gothic parish church; the coolness of the castle walls, which remember times much earlier than the burning of the last witch in Warmia in Reszel in 1811; the sound of the swift river Sajna, flowing below, under the castle, fastened by a medieval Gothic bridge as though with a pin. A town with a bear in its coat of arms will give us what has become a scarce commodity in the 21st century – peace and stopping on the run, and such delicacies are on the menu of all the 'Cities of the Snail', as Cittaslow towns are called.

Warmia without Masuria

Picture display

standardowy (864px desktop)

Meanders of the Łyna River in winter scenery, photo: Wojciech Wójcik/Forum

Picture image

olsztyn_rzeka_1_forum_.jpg

Will it be possible to save the cultural distinctiveness of Warmia, or will it be forever entangled in its knotted relations with Masuria? It is difficult to answer this unequivocally in the times of information noise and an ultra-fast life. This is often not helped by the media promotional campaigns of Mazury, which justly put towns of Warmia, Oberland and Mazury into one tourism basket, basking together in the glow of the popularity of the latter region. The confusion in the naming does not help either – if you want to go from Łódź to the capital of Warmia, buy a ticket for the... TLK Mazury train.

However, there is hope... the newest inhabitants of Warmia, newcomers from other regions of Poland or Warmians of the second or third generation, looking to take deep root in this land with such a difficult past, explore the Warmian dialect with increasing passion, discover the Warmian folk costume, emphasize landscape and historical differences, proudly calling this region their little homeland.

Translated from Polish by Michał Pelczar

Language English

warmia

Warmian-Mazurian Vo-ivodeship