History

The Tumlin canonry was founded (which meant endowment for the next canon of the collegiate church of Kielce) by priest Benedykt Kluczewski, a provost and church official from Kielce.  Bishop of Cracow Konstanty Szaniawski established the prebendary in 1724, complementing it by income of the parish in Tumlin. The right of presentation and patronage was vested by him in bishops of Cracow. Obligations of the canon included sermons to be given on Sundays and holidays in the collegial church, and participation in the canonical choir. Initially, the canon of Tumlin lived in the house of the vice-provost, within the provost's manor, in the vicinity of the collegial church of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1751, canon Eustachy Słonka had the old house dismantled and on its place, he ordered to erect a brick and stone building of the Tumlin canonry. Initially inhabited by canons, in the 19th century it was leased to tenants and for administrative purposes. Only in the 70s of the 19th century a renovation was carried out and the structure was once again designated as a residence of canons. In 1888, the adjacent house of provost (which was a bishop's residence by then) was extended, by removing the small gap between the buildings and made the side façade of the canonry invisible. In the 1980, on the back of the Tumlin canonry, a new wing of buildings of the Diocesan Curia was built according to a design by architect Stanisław Skibniewski, on a slope, along Czerwonego Krzyża Street.

Description

The building is located in the city centre, on Wzgórze Zamkowe. It is situated with its roof ridge parallel to Jana Pawła II Street, and it forms the end section of its eastern frontage. A sunk carriageway of the street, secured with stone retaining walls, separates the building from the cathedral church. The small building of the former canonry is characterised by conscious simplicity and functionalism. A cuboid, two-storey body covered with a hip roof was provided with late-Baroque, modest decoration whose simplicity has given to the building a nearly monumental character. The rhythm of façade axes is regular and symmetrical, and they feature rectangular windows. They were provided with a similar, complete accentuation expressed in shallow avant-corps and rounded corners framed by lesenes in giant order.  The tripartite layout of the façade is a result of depression of the middle section which feature an arcaded entrance opening on the ground floor.  The same layout is present — in a reverse order — also on the back façade, where flat avant-corps were used. The building has only one, small basement with a vault. The layout of the ground floor is nearly symmetrical on the transverse axis. A two-bay interior is divided by a wide hall, located on the shorter axis of the building. On the left, there are a couple of rooms with barrel vaults. The storey features a two-and-a-half-bay layout, with a corridor on the longitudinal axis of the building. At present, the building adjoins with the side southern façade to the higher house of provost, currently the Diocesan Curia.

Administration building of the Curia; limited access.

Compiled by Anna Adamczyk, 10.12.2014.

Bibliography

• Adamczyk J. L. Wzgórze Zamkowe w Kielcach, Kielce 1991, pp. 100 (fot. 48, ryc. 65).
• Adamczyk J.L., Wróbel T., Kielce portrety zabytków, Kielce 2008, pp .17.
• Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, vol. 3. Województwo kieleckie, fasc. 4. Powiat kielecki, compiled by T. Przypkowski, Warszawa 1957, pp. 37.
• Pycia J., Nad Silnicą, Kielce 1938, pp. 52.
• Wróbel T., Osiemsetlecie fundacji bpa Gedeona w Kielcach [in:] Kielecki Przegląd Diecezjalny, Rocznik XLVII, IX-X, 1971, no 5, pp. 211.