Prace badawczo-odkrywkowe na obecność polichromii w pomieszczeniach skrzydła zachodniego pałacu Pod Krzysztofory w Krakowie

RESEARCH WORKS AND POLYCHROME DETECTION SURVEY IN THE ROOMS OF THE WEST WING OF KRZYSZTOFORY PALACE IN KRAKÓW The subject of conservation works discussed in the paper were the exploration and survey conducted in the rooms located on the first, second and third floor in the west wing of Krzysztofory Palace in Kraków to detect polychrome decorations. Because it was necessary to reinforce the structure of the ceilings, the first stage of the project covered the assessment of the technical condition of ceilings and covings, while in the second stage the survey covered all the walls, including window and door chamfers, in each of the rooms that had been made accessible for the purposes of the research. In its long history, the building underwent restoration and adaptation works many times. The current research and conservation project has contributed a great deal to the knowledge about its past, but it has not yielded a full picture of all the transformations that took place over the centuries (only the removal of all the subsequent layers from the historical wall paintings which are scheduled for public display in the future can enable reliable dating or stylistic and formal analysis thereof ). The survey has revealed the existence of painted decorations on the walls of six rooms located on the mansion’s first and second floor. On the third floor which dates to the 1920s no decorative wall paintings were found. Faint traces of stencilled decorations from the second half of the 19th century were discovered on the ceilings, but with no traces of technological or stylistic continuation on the walls. The lack of a historical layer worthy of restoration for the purposes of future display in the ceilings, and the bad technical condition thereof justified the decision to remove them and to reconstruct the form of the covings. About eight distinct chronological layers were isolated during the analysis of the walls in the rooms covered by the survey. The fragments of multicolour pictorial decorations that were revealed in the examined samples belong to the third chronological layer which was painted over a colourful undercoat and plaster covering brick walls which were dated to the 17th century. The polychromes discovered in the abovementioned rooms share the same kind of three-dimensionality, del icacy, finesse of detail and extraordinary meticulousity regarding their form and use of colour. They are illusionistic decorations representing the type of architectural board compositions, with elaborate frames featuring floral, and sometimes also bird ornaments, and with arabesque and sequin motifs. The specific use of three-dimensionality, the colour scheme, and the composition and layout of the uncovered polychromes suggest the probable period in which they were created: they represent the early neo-classical style and must have been painted in the last decade of the 18th, or in the first decade of the 19th century. It has been proposed that the polychromes discovered on the walls of the six rooms be completely uncovered to undergo technical conservation, and later on aesthetic restoration to be arranged for public display. To get a full picture of the architectural and conservation transformations of Krzysztofory Palace, a historical analysis would have to be carried out after the removal of all the layers that are subsequent to the oldest layer of pictorial decorations which is scheduled for public display, and a survey of the rooms located on the ground floor in the west wing wound need to be completed. These developments can only take place after the rooms that until recently had been used by Cricoteca are emptied and made accessible for research purposes.