The restoration of the collegiate church in Kielce in the 1850s

Abstract

The article discusses the restoration of the furnishings and decorations of the collegiate church (the present cathedral) in Kielce undertaken in the 1850s. To provide a background, it briefly describes renovation works from the 1840s. In August 1850 a committee was established to manage the works in the church. Renovation was supervised by Aleksander Borkowski, Chief Builder of the Kielce District. The works done at that time included repairing the roof, providing new windows, plastering and painting the church, painting the presbytery in ultramarine and decorating it with 300 metal stars imitating the firmament, repairing and repainting choir stalls, loges and pews, replacing the steps at the altars and the stone flooring in two chapels and the sacristy, regilding the altars, cleaning paintings, repairing the organ, funding a new cibo-rium and repairing the galleries adjacent to the church. The article also mentions a dispute between the Church and state authorities in the 1850s over who was to finance the repairs of the galleries which used to lead from the bishops’ castle to the church and then over the Cracow Gate to the Seminary. It was finally agreed that the responsibility for the condition and repairs of the galleries would be divided between the parish, the city and the canons.