Late Romanesque crypt under the presbytery of the Dominican church in Krakow in the light of archaeological and architectural research

In 2010-2011, archaeological and architectural research was carried out in the crypt room located under the eastern part of the presbytery of the Dominican church in Krakow. The crypt is among atypical architectural solutions adopted in the earliest 13th-century churches of preachers. In fact, the only parallel (and highly presumed) structure may be a possible crypt reconstructed on the basis of an analysis of the differences in the usable levels of the chancel and nave, and the very residually preserved architectural elements that have been identified in the western part of the chancel of the Dominican church in Wrocław. Research on the crypt also made it possible to determine the mutual stratigraphic relations between the individual elements of the spatial system of the Dominican complex. The research results clearly showed that the crypt under the presbytery is not only the oldest element of the monastery’s spatial structure but also one of the first architectural structures in Krakow built from new building material, namely ceramic brick, in the second quarter of the 13th century. The research findings supported by historical sources also allowed to formulate hypotheses regarding the purpose of the crypt and its subsequent transformations.