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Silesia—Stranger/Not Stranger. Creating Regional Identity
places in Silesia with which they had connections. In addition, people outside the
Piast family, such as Piotr Wlast, are shown in the illustrations. '°
The second category consists of photos of architecture. Examples include the
Romanesque portal, originally in the Saint Vincent Church in Olbin"', now in the
Saint Mary Magdalene Church in Wroclaw; the tympanum from that portal with
relief of Holy Virgin Mary falling asleep (now preserved in the National Museum
in Wroclaw); and the tympanum from the Holy Virgin Mary Church in the same
city, depicting Maria, Piotr Wlast’s wife, with their son, offering a model of the
church to the Holy Virgin Mary with baby Jesus (Fig. 180). With photos of these
elements in the magazine, Piotr Wiast, a great Silesian nobleman and an important
personality in the court of Bolestaw Krzywousty (Boleslaus the Twisted Mouth),
was also presented to the reader (cf. footnote 8). We can also see interiors of various
buildings with significant architectural details, such as the Swidnica Tripartite Altar
(Fig. 181) or the winged altar from the Corpus Christi Church in Wroctaw. When
analysing artistic values of the altars, the editors of SMI point out their similarity
to the Wit Stwosz (Veit Stoss) altar in the Holy Mary Church in Cracow. Into the
same category falls the photo of the vault of the Mausoleum of the Silesian Piasts
in Legnica, unfortunately of very poor quality.
Historical personalities are in most cases also presented in the architectural
context. The location of sculptures (if the place is original and has not changed
over the centuries) usually reflects interrelations of man (creator, founder, owner
etc.) and place (any kind of architectural creation founded/owned by that person).
‘The editors, showing an image of a particular person, recall at the same time an
architectural monument related to him, and in that context present the life of this
person, his achievements, role in Silesian and Polish history, etc. This intensifies the
message of the photos in the magazine.”
The illustrations analysed refer not only to the history of Silesia but also to
Polish history. Those objects/architectural monuments underline the fact that
people from various regions in Poland share a common history. In that way the
editors appeal to the unity and common identity of the Poles. References to the
royal Piast family (and people close to Piasts) who built the foundation of the
10 Piotr Wlast (known also as Wlost or Wlostovic) was a Silesian nobleman who lived at the turn of the
11" and 12" centuries. He was probably a descendant of an ancient Silesian prince family. From the year
1117 he was palatinus of King Bolestaw Krzywousty (Boleslaus the Twisted Mouth), and, after his death,
the executor of the king’s testament. It is believed that Piotr Wlast founded several churches and monaster¬
ies, for example in Wroclaw the churches of Holy Mary, Saint Aegidius (Idzi) and Saint Michael, and the
Benedictine Abbey in Otbin along with Holy Maria church, now no longer existent (cf. Bieniek 1965). In
the magazine under analysis we found a great deal of information, including illustrations, on Piotr Wlast
(cf. Slask. Miesiecznik Ilustrowany 1946, nos 5-6: 1-4; 1947, nos 6-7: 4-5).
"The Saint Vincent Church belonged to the complex of the Benedictine abbey founded by Piotr Wlast,
who also brought there the Benedictine monks from Tyniec (now a suburb of Cracow).
Obviously, in order to acquire the complete idea, the photos should be viewed together with the ac¬
companied text.
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