At
the turn of the centuries, people were wondering: what will new
century, the seventeenth since the birth of Christ, bring. Societeies
vere transforming, regimes were changing and tensions among religious
sects were culminating. This was the background for the cutbreak of
war between the south and the north of the Netherlands. Today’s
Holland won its independence as the first bourgeoise monarchy. In
England, Cromwell’s revolution secured Anglicantism and republican
istitutions. Germany suffered the terrible Thirty Years’ War. France
increased its political and cultural importance, at the same time
strengthening modern absolutism. In Russia, the ascension to the
throne of Peter the Great brought about Renaissance and drew the
country closer to Europe. Science, culture and social relations
underwent enormous transformations. It was the age of great
philosophical systems and the development of natural science.
Renaissance and mannerism were substituted by baroque – the style of
counterreformation and absolutism, and, of optimism and joy of living.
The introduction of this new style in Poland coincided with the
beginning of the Vasa dynasty. The dynastic policy of Sigismund III as
well as the general configuration of social relations threw Poland
into the chaos of century-long wars which greatly undermined its
power. Almost immediately after its birth in Roma, baroque was
accepted in Poland, and though king Sigismund transferred the capital
to Warsaw, Cracow remained a cultural, scientifc and religious centre
of the country. Numerous churches were built according to this new
style. Baroque entered Cracow in full triumph.
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