The Great Poland, which for the most part extends into the lower and middle Warta basin, currently occupies the voivodships of Poznań, Leszno, Kalisz and Konin. The denomination Polonia Maior appears for the first time in 1257 together with Polonia Magna, while the Polish correspondent Wielka Polska (od. Wielkopolska) appears to have been used since the century. 14 ° with the meaning of Ancient Poland Main province of the West Slavic tribe of the Polani and essential nucleus of the oldest Polish state, called Gniezno State, the oldest Grande Poland was formed by the territory around Gniezno and Poznań, in which the Slavs expanded, arriving in the 13th century. 5th and 6th in the W direction to Elbe. The formation of the Grande Poland, however, took place between the secc. 8th and 10th through the integration of minor tribes into that of the Polani. L’ Demographic and economic increase is evidenced by the construction of mighty wooden castles surrounded by embankments (eg Poznań). The Piasti dynasty began to dominate in Gniezno, the main center of the state and seat of the archbishopric, at the latest from the 9th century. The province of Grande Poland during the monarchy of the first Piasti in the secc. 11th and 12th included the lands between Silesia in the S and Pomerania in the N, while in the E it bordered the land of Sieradz and Kuyavian; at the beginning of the century. 12th the lands of Nakło, Wałcz and Myślibórz were annexed and, in the 14th, the land of Wschowa. In the period of division of the Poland into principalities after 1138, the Great Poland gained independence; at the beginning of the century. 14 °, after the restoration of the unity of the Polish state, it retained a certain autonomy, but the unsolved problem of the rivalry with the Little Poland led to its decline and its secondary role. Danubii, 844-845), was limited by the high course of the Noteć river, by the lake of Gopło and by the Vistula, between the Great Poland, the Masovia and the Land of Dobrzyń and Chełmno; currently the voivodeships of Bydgoszcz, Włocławek, Konin and Toruń extend there. Particularly important is the development of the region in the secc. 10th-12th, and in the 14th Kujawy was one of the richest Polish lands; important political centers were Kruszwica, until the beginning of the century. 13th, and later Inowrocław. The oldest pre-Romanesque buildings of the Great Poland and of the Cuiavia were made of large, unworked ashlars of different stones, joined with mortar.
Characteristic for that period are the complexes formed by a sacred building with a central plan joined axially to a rectangular one, intended for housing. The main and best studied complex is that at Ostrów Lednicki near Gniezno (post 966); a similar complex erected in Giecz (before 1025 or 1038) was not completed. The pre-Romanesque parts of the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in Poznań could date back to the years after the year 1000 (when a stable bishopric was established), or be earlier than the time when the church – a basilica with a wooden roof, perhaps with a two-towered choir akin to Saxon constructions – assumed the role of cathedral. The Romanesque cathedrals of Gniezno and Poznań represented the type of basilica plan without transept with a western body with two towers; the naves respected the pre-Romanesque walls and it is known that in Gniezno there was a deep presbytery with three apses and in Poznań there were two towers to the west (the eastern part is not known). The first example of monastic architecture is the Benedictine church in Mogilno, built in the third quarter of the century. 11th: it is a basilica on pillars with a transept, a E-square presbytery and a Lotharingian-type Westwerk. The collegiate church in Kruszwica (1120-1140) represents the influence of the Benedictine reform of the monasteries, which on the E has a transept with apses and two chapels flanking the presbytery; the longitudinal body with three spans on pillars was originally closed to the West by two towers. The church of the Canons Regular in Trzemeszno had to be built before the middle of the century. 12 °; the basilica plan with naves divided by columns of the type elaborated in Hirsau, with transept and choir with straight termination, recalls German models.
The Trinity Church of Premonstratensian Nuns in Strzelno, with a transept, tripartite choir with towers and facade towers, was built between the 12th and 13th centuries. The most widespread typology in the context of religious architecture is, from the end of the century. 11th to the middle of the 13th, that of the church with a nave with wooden roof, apsidal presbytery or rectilinear termination, western gallery, sometimes enriched by a tower on the facade. The largest and most original complex of Romanesque sculpture in Poland is preserved in the church of the Trinity in Strzelno and includes, in addition to three figured tympanums, two of which date back to the Romanesque phase, two columns entirely covered with a decoration depicting a large cycle of personifications of Virtues and Vices, the work of a workshop formed in Lower Saxony.A masterpiece of sculpture is the bronze door of the cathedral dedicated to the Assumption and to St. Adalbert in Gniezno; outstanding products of the Romanesque goldsmith’s art are the chalices from the abbey of Trzemeszno (Gniezno, treasure of the cathedral), as well as the paten from the Cistercian abbey of La̢d (1193-1202, currently in the collegiate church of Kalisz), which presents the scene engraved of the foundation of the monastery and, on the reverse, the Annunciation. The unpreserved choir of the Poznań Cathedral (1243-1262), probably with polygonal termination, and the Dominican church of the same city (1244, around 1270), with its long hexapartite covered choir vault and the monumental single nave. A medieval monument of supra-regional interest is the church that Franciscans and Poor Clares shared in Gniezno. The Gothic cathedral of Gniezno replaced the previous one in Romanesque style; in Poznań the longitudinal body (ca. 1356-1376) is a simplified Silesian-type basilica, with a spatially articulated choir with three towers and a lantern – which constitutes a unicum -, added in 1380-1399. The more modest cathedral in Włocławek (1340-1411) is a basilica with an elongated choir without ambulatory. The numerous late Gothic foundations of parish churches are represented by modest single-ship buildings, the work of local masters. 13th, Gothic plastic developed around the mid-14th in the form of architectural sculpture. For Poland 2009, please check hyperrestaurant.com.
The overall decorative program of the cathedral of Gniezno was developed in the portals, in the keys and shutters of the vaults, in the capitals and moldings of the pillars and even in the ribs; two other churches in Gniezno and the La̢d monastery were decorated, albeit on a smaller scale, with the same technique, originally from the State of the Order of the Teutonic Knights, and applied to a style influenced by southern German and Austrian art. In the Great Poland the art of carving appears particularly developed, especially in the third quarter of the 14th century. The mysticizing address, prior to the mid-fourteenth century, yielded in the last thirty years of the century to the Silesian stylistic current and until about 1430. the influence of the international Gothic remained active, as evidenced by famous works such as the crucifix in the parish church of Szamotuly (1390-1400) and the stone sepulcher in the parish church of Rydzyna (post 1423). 14 ° the frescoes of the church of S. Giovanni in Gniezno and those of the chapels of the Cistercian monastery of La̢d. as evidenced by famous works such as the crucifix in the parish church of Szamotuly (1390-1400) and the stone sepulcher in the parish church of Rydzyna (post 1423). 14 ° the frescoes of the church of S. Giovanni in Gniezno and those of the chapels of the Cistercian monastery of La̢d. as evidenced by famous works such as the crucifix in the parish church of Szamotuly (1390-1400) and the stone sepulcher in the parish church of Rydzyna (post 1423). 14 ° the frescoes of the church of S. Giovanni in Gniezno and those of the chapels of the Cistercian monastery of La̢d.
