Poznań. “There is a hand with a sword! And here is a head!”. The Royal Castle in Poznań reveals its secrets

For the past few weeks, employees of the Museum of Applied Arts in Poznań have been walking to work on a footbridge. This is no ordinary footbridge, as it overlooks the Middle Ages, or rather the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, when a royal castle was built on Przemysł Hill. Looking down, you can see a large brick and stone wall, above which rise the walls of a modern administrative building. A layman would say that it is just another wall. However, an archaeologist would recognize it at first glance as a work of over seven hundred years.

– We recognize it not only by the large Gothic bricks, but also by the characteristic way in which they are arranged – says Prof. Artur Różański from the Faculty of Archaeology of the Adam Mickiewicz University, who leads the research on Przemysł Hill – The uncovered relics include the perimeter wall of the castle kitchen, which was connected to the city's defensive walls. – he explains.

When we look at the wall, a large crack catches our eye. It could have been caused by unstable ground or tremors related to the construction of air raid shelters during World War II. Or perhaps medieval craftsmen who worked according to the principle of “so-so and quit” had their ears to the ground.

– The bricklayers who built the castle kitchen for Przemysł II and his successors were not top-class craftsmen. In places, it was botched, which is evident from the mistakes in leading the thread – laughs Różański – Only part of the cellars has survived to this day. The wall that we uncovered was almost entirely under the surface of the ground at that time – explains the archaeologist.

There is not much left, because history has not been kind to Góra Przemysła. The Gothic castle was first consumed by fire, and then the residence rebuilt in the Renaissance style was destroyed by the Swedes during the Deluge. A memento of them may be a stone cannonball, which archaeologists found while digging through cubic meters of soil.

Of course, there is no shortage of medieval relics, and those that we automatically associate with the functioning of the kitchen. These are animal bones and thousands of fragments of vessels in which food was cooked for the king and courtiers, and later also for his starosts residing in the castle. More luxurious vessels also appear, or rather their remains. We are talking about small fragments of glass flute-shaped cups or imitations of stoneware vessels. Every now and then, archaeologists fish out individual iron relics from this mass ceramic material.

– We have spurs and horseshoes and something that may be the remains of a dagger. Whether this is the case, we will find out only after the conservation of this heavily corroded monument. In any case, these are objects related to knight culture, i.e. the kind we would expect in a castle – says Artur Różański.

All the artefacts are sorted by first-year students of archaeology at the Poznań University. An interesting fact is that 77-year-old Zenon Lenczewski is working shoulder to shoulder (or rather shovel to shovel) with the twenty-year-olds. Mr. Zenon became famous as the oldest Polish student. When he defended his master's degree in Croatian philology last year, he decided that it was time for an adventure with archaeology. It turns out that his eyes are just as sharp as those of his younger colleagues. He was the one who found a modern horse harness bell in the dirt thrown out of the excavation.

A green glass bottle with a characteristic plastic cork sticks out of the excavation profile. It makes you want to shout after the hero of the film Seksmisja “Our people were here!”. The “Archeo Section” had already been working in the castle at one point. In the early 1990s, archaeologists uncovered a fragment of the castle kitchen walls. So what is the point of reopening old excavations and digging in mixed layers, where medieval denarii and cheese wrappers are found side by side? It turns out that it is quite large.

– Firstly, due to the isolation of the foundations of the administrative building, this place had to be excavated again – says Prof. Artur Różański – Secondly, we are significantly expanding this excavation and discovering new parts of the wall, which connects to the one discovered earlier. Finally, we have a technique that was unavailable 30 years ago. For example, such as laser scanning, drone photos and photogrammetry. Thanks to this, we will be able to create a three-dimensional image of the castle relics and use VR technology. After putting on the goggles, you will feel like you are in the excavation and have this architecture literally at your fingertips – concludes the archaeologist.

Metal detectors have also appeared, which allow for locating small objects, such as coins. So far, several dozen have been found during research. These are mainly common Jan Kazimierz szeląg or tokens closer to our times. But medieval coins remembering Władysław Jagiełło have also appeared. Including particularly valuable half-groschen. Not only because of the silver they contain, but also because of their location. They were one of the few coins that had their own stratigraphic context. This learned name simply means that they came from an intact demolition layer full of mortar, tiles and bricks. The presence of the coins allowed them to be dated to the second decade of the 15th century. As for the half-groschen themselves, contrary to our modern associations, it was not a small coin at all.

– Smaller denominations were the third coin and the denarii – explains Dr. Witold Garbaczewski, curator of the Numismatics Cabinet of the National Museum in Poznań – We know from documents that the daily wage of a journeyman or a peasant working in the field was one grosz. However, in everyday trade, mainly half-grosz and denarii were used. For half-grosz, you could buy, for example, a dozen eggs – says the numismatist.

Sometimes, archaeologists and students working in the excavation exchanged their work gloves for latex gloves. All this was done so as not to contaminate the samples. Fragments of burnt wood were put into double zip-lock bags and sent to the laboratory. Today, radiocarbon dating is not only more accessible, but also more accurate than it was 30 years ago. Perhaps, thanks to the analysis of collected samples taken from the immediate vicinity of the castle wall, it will be possible to better date the start of construction.

The aforementioned demolition layer also contained some broken tiles, which particularly pleased archaeologists. In the late Middle Ages, a tiled stove did more than just heat. It was also supposed to indicate the status of its owner and convey a specific message through square images. Something like Instagram, but with content that was changed once a generation.

– The most common representations on Gothic tiles include images of saints, religious allegories and coats of arms. They clearly demonstrated a connection with the Christian faith and a specific family or territory – enumerates Dr. Magdalena Poklewska-Koziełł from the Archaeological Museum in Poznań – But there were also folk, grotesque representations or images of fantastic beasts – she adds.

Such a stove, or rather several impressive stoves, could not be missing in the seat of the king and his starosts. During this year's research at the Poznań castle, among other things, a tile with the Nałęcz coat of arms was discovered. But the greatest stir among the students was caused by a ceramic tile with an execution scene imprinted on it. “There is a hand with a sword!”, “Here is a head!” “Oh, this piece fits” – could be heard from above plastic troughs filled with water, where students were washing and tidying up ceramics.

– We identify this representation as a scene of the martyrdom of Bishop Stanisław of Szczepanów, the patron saint of Poland – says Prof. Artur Różański – The preserved pieces of the tile allow us to recognize the interior of the church with a crucifix, the figure of the bishop in a mitre and the executioner striking a blow with a sword. An angel hovers over Stanisław's head, taking the soul of the future saint to heaven – the scientist describes the monument.

Usually, when archaeologists find something unusual, they look in books or call colleagues in search of an analogy, i.e. a similar artifact that someone has already found and studied. This time, however, the initial inquiry did not yield any results. And that was a good thing.

– From the Dominican monastery in Kraków we have a matrix for the production of tiles depicting the resurrection of the knight Piotrowin by Stanisław. However, we have not yet known a tile with the martyrdom scene itself. This is a very preliminary assessment, because we need to review unprocessed material from other excavations, but it is possible that we are dealing with a previously unknown type of tile, and this is always interesting – says Dr. Magdalena Poklewska-Koziełł.

The research is related to the renovation of the administrative buildings of the Museum of Applied Arts and will last until the end of the year. Perhaps we are in for more similar discoveries, because archaeologists will soon open more excavations moving up the slope towards Plac Wielkopolski. However, appetite grows with eating and according to scientists, it would be a good idea to also examine what is located in the building of the Museum of Applied Arts, especially its northern part. In connection with controversial reconstruction of the castle the relics of the defensive tower have been identified, and the kitchen is now being examined. What is in the middle, the medieval palace part intended for the ruler and his guests, remains a mystery.

– The Poznań castle was the place where, among other important events, the wedding of Casimir the Great and Adelaide of Hesse took place. They say that the best parties are held in the kitchen, but I don't think that a royal wedding could have taken place there – jokes Prof. Różański – It also didn't take place in the relatively cramped tower. There must have been some kind of representative hall and royal chambers here. Therefore, if possible, we would like to examine the museum's cellars – the archaeologist makes plans for the future.