Municipal brickworks in Poland from the mid-16th to the mid-17th century

Abstract

The article is devoted to municipal brickworks in the towns of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the second half of the 16th and the first half of the 17th century. They played an important role in the development of architecture, since their products, i.e. bricks, roof-tiles and ceramic fl oor tiles, were the basic material for monumental architecture and all kinds of urban buildings. They were also important for the economy of towns, being a source of their income. The article deals with selected issues of brickworks organization, the process of producing ceramic building materials, employment, equipment and premises, tools and the supply of raw materials. Available data were used to investigate the output and identify the customers of such workshops. Selected examples are used to illustrate the costs of running brickworks and the issue of their profi tability. Large and stable brickyards had well-developed infrastructure, includ-ing a kiln (usually with a lining), sheds for storing bricks and wood, and serving as shelter for the workers. The work was supervised by the master brick-maker, who was both a craftsman and an entrepreneur responsible for the whole production process, including the burning. A brickworks also employed assistant brick-makers and unskilled workers, as well as other craftsmen, who constructed buildings, made repairs and supplied tools, e.g. bricklayers, carpen-ters, blacksmiths, and even tanners. The output of particular brickworks differed signifi cantly. Large brickworks, which oper-ated in Cracow, Kazimierz, Lviv or Gdańsk (Danzig), and probably in other towns, e.g. Elbląg (Elbing), manufactured about 200,000 bricks per year. Some cities, for instance Lviv and Elbląg, had even three brickworks. In Prussian cities ceramic building materials were also imported by sea. Municipal brickworks catered for public building projects and for individual city-dwellers; they sold their products to noblemen, Church institutions and even the royal court. They could also be leased out for the purpose of large construction projects, as was the case when the Bernardine church and monastery were built in Lviv. Municipal brickworks were an important part of the building industry in the Commonwealth and their impact reached beyond towns.