Shadows from the East

This is the interior of the 14^th C. castle chapel dedicated to the Holy Trinity in the castle of Lublin in eastern Poland. Lublin was an important stronghold guarding the eastern borders of the early medieval Kingdom of Poland from the Rus, Mongol, Tartar and Lithuanian raids. The castle has a long history and still preserves a monumental Romanesque tower in its center from which the defenders could observe the surrounding plains and watch for the armies approaching from the east. The large gothic chapel is unique because it’s interior is covered with Byzantine paintings and Cyrillic inscriptions executed by Orthodox masters at the request of the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Władysław II Jagiełło. Jagiełło was a former pagan prince who ruled over many Orthodox Christian monasteries, churches and bishoprics in the east. When he was baptized and married the queen of Poland, he invited the Byzantine masters from the eastern provinces of Lithuania to decorate some of the Latin, gothic churches of the Polish kingdom.  The works he commissioned became unique hybrid monuments mixing the developed gothic architectural forms with airy spaces full of light with Orthodox, Russian murals often designed for darker, more intimate spaces where the principal source of light were candles. Today, only three such monuments survive and Lublin castle chapel is by far the most impressive. Sitting in this gothic hall, just next to the medieval Latin city he ruled, the king could still see the shadows of the eastern provinces of his realm and remember the Orthodox people living there.