During the medieval period in Poland, Slavic tribes like the Polanians and Vistulans inhabited the territory and their culture was based on polytheistic beliefs and nature worship. As Poland became a Christian civilization in the 10th century under rulers like Mieszko I, Romanesque and Gothic architectural styles emerged in buildings like churches. Applied arts flourished during this time as seen in manuscripts, embroidery, furniture and other artifacts while Polish cuisine centered around grains, meats and seasonal foods. Major monuments from this era still standing include Malbork Castle and the Gdansk crane.

1. Medieval art period
in Poland
“Together with Arts”
Erasmus+ team SP2 in Poznan

2. Introduction -Medieval Poland
During the middle ages (5th century to the 15th century) , Poles were called Slavs. Slavs’ ancestors came
from Asia a few years before Christ. Slavs were split into three groups called Eastern, Southern, and
Western Slavs. Slavs had very rigid customs and beliefs based on their religion. Additionally, Slavs were
polytheistic (which means they believed in many gods). They also worshiped nature and spiritual
powers. In the early middle ages, many tribes lived in the territory which would become Poland. The
most important polish tribes were called the Vistulanians and Polanians (lived in Southern Poland at the
time) who soon claimed Polish territory. In the later years of the middle ages (10th century), Poland soon
had their own leaders such as Mieszko I and Poland slowly started to become a Christian civilization.
Poland moved away from polytheistic and spiritual beliefs.

3. Romanesque and Gothic Style
Kolegiata in Tum it’s a romanesque
building. It was built in XII century.
In this building settled first benedict’s
abbey.
Church of the Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin Mary its an example of gothic style
building. It was building in 1290-1300 year.
Romanesque style:
The name gives it away–
Romanesque architecture is based
on Roman architectural elements.
It is the rounded Roman arch that
is the literal basis for structures
built in this style.
Gothic style:
Forget the association of the word “Gothic” to
haunted houses, dark music, or ghostly pale people
wearing black nail polish. The original Gothic style
was actually developed to bring sunshine into people
lives and especially into their churches. To get past
the accrued definitions of the centuries, it’s best to go
back to the very start of the word Gothic, and to the
style that bears the name.

4. Romanesque and gothic style in Poznan
The Archcathedral Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul in Poznań is one of
the oldest churches in Poland and the oldest Polish cathedral, dating from the
10th century. Its located on the island of Ostrów Tumski north-east of the city
centre.The cathedral was originally built in the second half of the 10th
century. Cathedral was rebuilt in the Romanesque style, remains of which are
visible in the underground. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the church was
rebuilt in the Gothic style. At that time, a crown of chapels was added.
It is also the burial place of the first Polish kings:
● 992 - Mieszko I
● 1025 - Boleslaus the Brave
● 1034 - Mieszko II
● 1058 - Casimir the Restorer
● 1239 - Ladislaus Odonic
● 1257 - Przemysł I
● 1279 - Bolesław Pobożny
● 1296 - Przemysł II

5. Applied art
Applied art was very popular in medieval times in Poland. There were on agenda. Ladies
of the court wore many necklaces, and they ate food on the plates with paintings.
Applied art is still popular now. In medieval times we could find many of vases with
paintings, too. There are lots of monuments of history in Poland. for instance, we have a
gothic table from 1500! We have some furniture from Gdansk, Elblag, Warsaw, and many
others towns.

6. Calligraphy
A really powerful tool employed by the Church was the skill of writing in medieval Poland. The Church had the
knowledge and the ability to make parchments, and scribes created and copied manuscripts and established
libraries. Thus the earliest examples of Polish literature were written in Latin. “Ciołek's Missal” is one of the
oldest relics of Polish literature. Made in 1515, in Kraków, for Erazm Ciołek, the Archbishop of Płock it was
decorated with figural initials, rich borders with motives of crests of the owner.
An examplary manuscript from
the Wroclaw University Library
The gospels from Płock
and Gniezno
“Ciołek's Missal” A historiated illuminated initial

7. Embroidery
In the Polish lands, in the 15th century, craftsmen professionally engaged in
embroidery were associated in guilds with painters and goldsmiths, separating
themselves from them as a separate guild only in the early modern period. In
Poland felt became popular in the Middle Ages, and was used to make blankets,
shoes, thick hats and other garments.

8. Monuments
Malbork castle was built in 1280.
In 1772 castle was devastated and
in 1945 castle was almost destroyed
but after the World War II the castle has been
mostly reconstructed.
Gdańsk crane was built in 1444. When it was built
it was the largest working crane in the world for a
while. When Gdańsk crane was working it had a
lifting capacity of 4 tonnes to a height of 11
metres.
It remained a working crane until the middle of the
19th century and was 80% destroyed in 1945 in
The Battle for Gdańsk.

9. Fashion
In the Middle Ages, it was difficult to
distinguish between women’s and men’s
clothing. The outfit indicated the social
position and wealth of the owner. The oldest
form of clothing was a tunic which both girls
and boys wore. Men tied tunics around the
waist with a selvedge. The younger ones wore
short tunics up to the knee. Long tunics it
was founded by older or superior men. Outer
cloth for both girls and boys was an
extensive, long. wool coat. The women
covered coat both arms. The men covered
shifted left shoulder coat, to be able to freely
reach for a gun.

10. Food
During the middle ages, Poland had many different varieties of delicious dishes and food. The polish
cuisine in the middle ages included agricultural products such as wheat, rye, meat (from farm animals or
wild animals), fruits, herbs, and spices. Beer was a popular drink and was frequently drunk by people
living in Poland in the middle ages (and is still quite popular today). Polish cuisine in the middle ages is
described as very pungent, including meat and groats. Polish dishes included very high amounts of
seasoning and spices compared to other countries who only had pepper, nutmeg, and juniper. Two basic
polish sauces that were traded and shared during the middle ages were called “jucha czerwona” and
“jucha szara” also known as red and gray blood (translated from old Polish). Beer and mead were
popular for very long but around the 15th or 16th century, other countries began to transport wine into
Poland.
Vocabulary words: pungent - very sharp (strong) smell or taste; mead - an alcoholic drink consisting of
fermented honey and water; groat - crushed grain, oats
1st image - beer ->
2nd image - wheat, rye, barley ->
3rd image - spices ->

11. Music and dance
While folk music did not disappear during this time, relatively little of the early Polish
music is known. Musical instruments, commonly homemade (eg, fiddles, lyres , lutes,
zithers, and horns ) were used.
The Gregorian chorales and monodic music appeared in Polish churches and
monasteries at the end of the 11th century.
Polish folk dances are a tradition rooted in ten centuries of Polish culture and
history . Many of the dances stem from regional customs and historical events, but
also include formal ballroom elements or ballet, and are distinct from Czech, Slovak
and Germanic styles. Nowadays, the dances are only performed during major events,
holidays or in tourist-oriented public spaces.
The most notable and renowned dances of Poland include the Krakowiak, Mazurka,
Oberek, Polonaise and Bohemian Polka. A great promoter of Polish folk music abroad
was pianist and composer Frederic Chopin, who often incorporated folklore into his
works.

12. Medieval culture
The culture of Medieval Poland was closely linked to the Catholic Church and its involvement in the country's
affairs, especially during the first centuries of the Polish state's history. The Christianization of the kingdom of
Poland led, as in the rest of Europe, to the supplementation of previous pagan Slavic mythology-based culture
Polanie with the new Christian culture of the Kingdom of Poland under the Piast dynasty.
Around the 12th century, the ecclesiastical network in Poland was composed of about one thousand parishes
grouped in eight dioceses.The new customs spread as the Church also acted as the state's educational system.
Church run schools with Latin trivium (grammar, rhetoric, dialectic) and quadrivium (mathematics, geometry,
astronomy, and music) and was helped by various religious orders which established monasteries throughout the
countryside.
Curiosities:
The oldest Polish pisanki (traditional name for painted eggs, singular) date back to the end of the 10th century. In
Slavic beliefs, eggs were associated with the cult of the sun god, and they symbolized new life and birth. Each
spring, when life awakened from its winter slumber, Poles presented each other with eggs.

13. Authors
That presentation was prepared by the 7th grade students of Szkoła Podstawowa nr 2 z Oddziałami
Dwujęzycznymi in Poznan:
Emilia Kubiak
Gabriela Staszak
Jagoda Wasińska
Lena Antczak
Tymoteusz Kulda
Dawid Wolański
Ziemowit Przywecki
Stanisław Quash
The teacher: Barbara M-N’sir

14. Sources
Introduction Sources: https://www.medievalists.net/2016/10/history-of-poland-during-the-middle-
ages/
Calligraphy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Poland_in_the_Middle_Ages
https://www.alamy.com/medieval-slavs-image184251248.html
https://www.slideshare.net/Milan40/south-slavs-in-the-early-middle-ages
https://alchetron.com/Early-Slavs
Culture Sources: https://culture.pl/en/place/museum-of-applied-art
Food sources : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_cuisine
Monuments:https://www.inyourpocket.com/gdansk/the-crane_16203v ,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malbork_Castle