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Marla Wabar-Kozmlńaka

Marł* Wtbor Koiłriakn    ,

SOME PROBLEMS RELATED TO THE Hf STORY OF STONEMASONRY IN POŁAND

The history of tho use of stone in Polish arohitecture and sculpture constitutes a separate branoh of sotenoe. The field of that science is olosely linked with the history of building science and to the history of knowledge of our native rocks.

Each country has a somcwhat different h*'story of the exploitation and use of native depo* sits, for the utility and application of particular varieties of stone varies according to the different kinds of stone and to the form under which they occur.

In order to achieve a deeper knowledge of the use of stone in Polish architecture and sculp-ture, it is necessary to study — apart from the economic relations of the time —■ the structure of the deposit from which the raw materiał was drawn, as well as the results of investigation into the resistance properties of the Stones employed.

The structure of the deposit itself acquaints us with the difficulties that the quarry worker had to overcome when extracting a raw błock of stone suitable for building purposes.

The knowledge of the resistance of Stones used in a historie building makes it possible to draw conclusions as to the skill employed in choosing particular species of stone for load-bearing units, facing or flooring. The quality of the raw stone likewise influences the forms of architectural sculpture.

The monuments we have inherited from the past afford us indication as to the degree of skill in the use of colour and texture and in the matching of various kinds of stone. The ability to dis-criminate and select rock materia! within one and the same deposit is one of the most interes-ting problems in the art of stonemasonry of past ages; it may be observed already in buildings of the Romanesque period.    •

Investigations of the State of preservation of partictdar varieties of stone in ancient buildings, alongside of laboratory tests and of surveying the raw materiał in the deposit, are a help in choosing appropriate Stones for modern building.