Byzantine frescoes in the Sandomierz cathedral : a royal gift for the greater glory of God or a reflection of the idea of the union of Horodło?

The subject of our deliberations is the ideological significance of the Byzantine frescoes founded by Ladislaus Jagiello and preserved until the present day in the Sandomierz cathedral. The origin of the polychrome should be traced to the period of the king’s marriage to Anna of Cilli, whose coat-of-arms is to be found in the row of coats-of-arms discovered during the conservation work conducted in the cathedral in the years 2008-2011. The very fact that Anna’s coat-of-arms had been placed within the row of coats-of-arms of the Kingdom of Poland, should be viewed in a wider perspective as a pictorial testimony of the royal legacy after king Casimir the Great and the continuity of the Piast monarchy under Jagiello’s rule. Thanks to an analysis of the content of the scenes as well as their arrangement, the authoress distinguishes two main axes of interpretation of the content of the paintings - the historical-eschatological image of theophany and the royal foundation. The polychromes gave testimony to the existence of two Christian cultures united within a single state organism, whereas the placing of the paintings and foundation plaques in within the space of the presbytery, proves that they fulfilled an important role as propaganda tools during the visits of the most illustrious guests of the kingdom.