Sacral sculpture
Sacral sculpture is a kind of sacral art, which does not show only figures depicting saints and godheads. There are also all religious adornments appearing as well at the inside as on the outside ornaments of churches, and also separately – in museums or private stocks. Moreover, it is one of the oldest types of sculpture and that is the reason why among stocks of repositories belonging to the Digital Libraries Federation we can find really many objects of this type. There are not (as it is often for material objects) only photographs documenting sculptures in places all over the world, but also actual sculptures among collections of the chosen museums.
PAUart Catalogue contains quite accurate information about its sets of sacral sculpture photos – there are for example photographs from Stanisław Wyspiański’s collection connected with his artistic trips to Italy, Germany and France in 1890, bought by the Polish Academy of Sciences from Helena Chmurska in 1960 (Norymberga, Biecz, Moguncja). Apart from that in this repository we can find also photographs which were gifts from Karol Lanckoroński for PAS (Władysław I Andegaweński Sepulcher in San Giovanni a Carbonara Church). Another interesting photos of sacral sculptures are shared by the Digital Lower Silesia: Saint Cross Sanctuary – church of Polish Army in Jelenia Góra with sculptured ambo and a view for the main nave, and a church of Assumption of the Virgin Mary and Saint Maternus in Lubomierz with some sculptures at the front. Also from Silesia – from the Digital Library of Silesia come the photos from before 1939 depicting parish church of the Assumption of Mother of God in Wielowieś. Both photographs come probably from times of 2nd World War. Similar, comprehensive conceptualizations of buildings are presented by the Museum of History of Photography, where we can take a look at the collection of archival photos from different European cities (a portal in Belem’s Cathedral, Lisbon and a church of Saint Wawrzyniec in Nuremberg). The National Digital Museum in Warsaw presents diversified objects, there is for example a photo of a wooden altar to the Saint John the Baptist in a church of the Holy Family in Zakopane – altarpiece with a picture of Saint John the Baptist on the background of the Black Caterpillar Pond painted by Stanisław Witkiewicz at the end of 19th century; also a collection of chosen museal figures from 15th century, for example Mary the Handmaid in a temple or a Pieta authored by the unknown Breslau sculptor. A very interesting collection of wooden sculptures is available in the Baltic Digital Library – there are mainly quite tattered 15th century polichromatic sculptures, but a part of them was preserved in a quite good condition: Jezus Christ, Mary with a child or an Angel.
