Alabaster from the Ukrainian Carpathian Foredeep Basin in the architecture and sculpture of Cracow, Poland

Abstract

Al a bas ter is a rock with low hard ness, high co her ence, fine-crys tal line de vel op ment and forms an op ti cally "warm" sur face when pol ished. It has been used as a sculpt ing, dec o ra tive and ar chi tec tonic stone, of ten by civ i li za tions of the Med i ter ranean Sea Ba sin. Al a bas ter in the ar chi tec ture and sculp ture of Kraków is mainly from the Mid dle Mio cene (Badenian) and comes from de pos its within the Ukrai nian Carpathian Foredeep Ba sin, chiefly along its north ern mar gin in the "Podolia rim". It was quar ried around the mid-part of the Dnister River and its trib u tar ies, from Lviv (Lwów) to Khotyn (Chocim), and mostly at Zhuravno (¯urawno). The al a bas ter quar ried here was called Ruthenian, Pol ish, or Lvov "mar ble". Small quar ries were also lo cated at the front of the Carpathian overthrust, in clud ing the known de posit at £opuszka Wielka. The Mio cene al a bas ter has shades of white, yel low, green, brown, usu ally with dif fer ing spots or veins; of ten the rock is brecciated and partly semi-trans par ent. Al a bas ter has been quar ried in the Pol ish Re pub lic since the 16th cen tury, peak ing (also in fin ished stone prod ucts) be tween the world wars. The au thors pres ent ex am ples of al a bas ter us age in ec cle si as ti cal ed i fices of Kraków, for in stance in the Wawel Ca the dral, St. Mary's Church, the churches of Do min i can, Carmelite and Mis sion ary clergy, and also in some sec u lar build ings, e.g. the Jagiellonian Li brary.