It also belongs to the group of the best preserved buildings founded by Father Jan Długosz (died 1480). The iconography of the polychrome inside the buildings, dating from around 1467, does not have analogies in the Polish wall painting.

History

The first common house of the vicars of Wiślica was built by Jan of Tarnów (died 1409), castellan of Kraków. Before the mid-15th century the building was destroyed in a fire. In the 1450s, Fr. Jan Długosz, curate of Wiślica, decided to build a new more impressive structure on the site occupied by the previous house. To this end, he acquired two additional plots of land (the purchase of the last one was approved by the town council in 1463). The vicars’ house was erected probably by bricklayers of Kraków in 1464-1467. In 1467, Długosz transferred the property to the local clergy. In 1468, Jan Lutek, Bishop of Kraków, approved the donation. In the 1780s-1790s, part of the building was occupied by the administration of the Wiślica district. The inspection carried out in 1792 showed that the building required repairs, which were made between 1820 and 1837. In 1866, the building was at risk of collapse. In 1873, it underwent renovation. In 1915, the Austrian troops seriously damaged the building. In 1919, damage was repaired and the building underwent restoration, which involved the reconstruction of portals, among others. In 1930, the interior layout of the house, stone portals and window surrounds were reconstructed based on a design by Adolf Szyszko-Bohusz. In 1945, the building again suffered serious damage as a result of warfare. Only in the 1960s, it underwent the necessary repairs combined with architectural surveys. The surveys allowed to determine the original interior layout of the structure and revealed Gothic portals and figure polychromy. In 1995-1996, its roof and western gable were secured and reinforced. In 1999, part of the building was allocated for museum use. Between 2000 and 2012, the façades, stonework, wall paintings and wooden ceilings underwent conservation, maintenance and restoration.

Description

The Długosz House is part of the collegiate church complex situated in the centre of the village. It occupies the south-western part of that complex. The Gothic building is a multi-storey structure with a basement, built on a floor plan in the shape of an elongated rectangle, with a slope in the south-western corner. It has a tripartite layout of rooms, almost the same on all storeys. It consists of a pass-through hallway, with stairs within the walls, framed by a corridor to the west with a group of cells on the sides, and two rooms to the east (ground floor — kitchen). The former refectory is located on the upper storey over the hallway. The building was erected of brick in a Gothic (Polish) patter and stone, and the interior was partly plastered. The building is covered with gable roof. Brick façades facing the east and west are topped by triangular gables with blind windows (the central one features the Wieniawa coat of arms) and adorned with decorations in the form of rhombuses made of vitrified bricks and corner limestone ashlars. They were separated by uni- or bipartite windows with rectangular surrounds and topped with step-like endings (reconstructed parts). Entrance to the building and passages between the rooms are emphasised by Gothic portals (reconstructed parts). Only two basements of the building are covered with barrel vaults, the other are topped with ceilings (mainly made of wood; coffered ceiling over the hallway). The north-western room on the ground floor is covered with a painted ceiling with ornamental and heraldic decorations, and the southern wall is covered with a painting depicting the Christ the Martyr in a sarcophagus in the centre, framed on the sides by the depictions of a kneeing canon (Jan Długosz?) with St. Helena (?) and a group of soldiers together with Pontius Pilate and Procula (?) on a balcony. The museum part of the building is used to exhibit monuments from the collegiate church and excavations works in Wiślica.

The site is open to visitors. The building can be viewed during the working hours of the Regional Museum in Wiślica.

compiled by Łukasz Piotr Młynarski, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Kielce, 30-09-2014.

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