The Bernardine church in Rzeszów. Mystagogy of the space leading into the church interior

Abstract

In the years 1610–1629, a church founded by Mikołaj Spytko Ligęza was erected in Rzeszow on the site of apparitions of the Virgin Mary, and entrusted to the care of Bernardine monks. In connection with the jubilee of the 500th anniversary of the apparitions in 2013, a series of renovations were conducted in the church; and the porch, which occupies the bottom floor of the tower, built on the axis of the west facade of the building, was rebuilt. Currently, there are two pairs of double bronze doors, carved on both sides, which lead to the interior of the porch. Another door, also covered with sculptural decoration, separates the porch from the nave. Its partial glazing inscribes the entire interior of the rich Mannerist-Baroque building into its image field, creating a spatial stage design arrangement developing into the interior, towards the very tabernacle and the main altar in the chancel. Obviously, the moving wing system allows for creating variable configurations with varying messages, developing in time and space. Images of the history of the local apparition and the figures of the local saints gradually lead the viewer through biblical presentations and quotations to the mystery of the Incarnation. The space of the vestibule, skillfully combining the iconographic message with the symbolism and expression of the form (such as the symbolism of the light and the symbolism of the material), constitutes a significant element and, at the same time, a metaphor of mystagogical initiation, achieved when crossing the border between the profane and the sacred.