Liczba w koncepcji ideowej romańskich kolumn w Strzelnie. Cztery żywioły, trzydzieści sześć dekanów

The subject of the present article is the decoration of four Romanesque pillars situated in Holy Trinity Church in Strzelno. Its interpretation is based on the research method for astrological iconography and history of ideas. The significance of the number, admitted by Boethius to be “the basic principle of the universe”, in medieval way of thinking and in contemporary model of Cosmos it is a starting-point for interpretation of pillars. The number of the pillars − four, may be related to four elements, and the number of the bas-reliefs − thirty six to thirty six decanal planets. Recognition of elements represented on the pillars is supported by the documents linking to Pythagorean cosmology and by the illustrations rendering four elements in the medieval manuscripts. The “many-storied” way of medieval thinking inspired the recognition of the character, placed on the pillar interpreted as the air element, as being a ligature of Latin word aer. An accomplishment of the interpretation of the capitals, covered with the ornaments depicting geometrical hemispheres is also attempted. The capital of the NE column is decorated with the theme of the upwards open hemispheres containing the signs, another one on each of four sides. On the ground of astrologic treatises, signs: the rosette, the cross, the circles, are interpreted as the notations of the sun, and the whole of the representation as being a scheme of solar circulation in the sky. It is noticed that the structural similarities to astronomical diagrams represented in a Byzantine manuscript referring to Almagest of Ptolemy occur. The interpretation of thirty six bas-reliefs, placed on the eastern pillars, is performed on the ground of the documents referring to Hermetic tradition. The subject of decans iconography, dating from the second century is rised. The effigy of the Baptism of Christ, considered to be linked to the zodiacal sign of Aquarius is applied as a key for the identification of particular decanal planets. Therefore, a personage with the sceptre, placed beneath this scene, is recognized as Mercury in the second decan of Aquarius. The sequence of decanal planets by Teucros of Babylon, admitted in medieval manuscripts, has allowed to attribute the decanal planets to the particular bas-reliefs. This way of interpretation allows to read the moral contents present in the effigies of Strzelno, according to medieval mnemotechnics, different from the modern way of thinking. It is referred to the significance of decans representations for the medieval art of memory. It has been assumed that an iconological conception of the pillars of Strzelno originated from the order of Prémontré, which was active in the intellectual life of that period, and it sprang up on the ground of the monastic education based on the septem artes liberales.