Giovanni Battista Trevano
Encyclopedia
Giovanni Battista Trevano (died 1644) was an Italian architect from Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...

 who worked in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 as royal architect for King Sigismund III Vasa
Sigismund III Vasa
Sigismund III Vasa was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, a monarch of the united Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1587 to 1632, and King of Sweden from 1592 until he was deposed in 1599...

, of the Swedish dynasty of Vasa
Vasa
Vasa may refer to:* House of Vasa, a medieval Swedish noble family, the royal house of Sweden 1523–1654 and of Poland 1587–1668** Vasa , a Swedish warship that sank in 1628, since restored...

, who was ruling Poland at the time.

He was one of the team of architects and craftsmen who rebuilt the Royal Castle in Warsaw, the old Gothic castle of the Masovian princes, which had already been completely remodeled by Italian architects in the second half of the sixteenth century. New works were undertaken in the years 1598-1619. He was not alone in this project: Giacomo Rodondo, Paolo del Corte and Mateo Castelli were all involved in remaking as a new Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 structure, on its imposing site along the bank of the river Vistula
Vistula
The Vistula is the longest and the most important river in Poland, at 1,047 km in length. The watershed area of the Vistula is , of which lies within Poland ....

. The castle, much altered over the years, was bombed and dynamited by the Nazis as a symbol of Polish culture and was rebuilt in the years 1971–1988 as a national monument.

In Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...

, on the Wawel
Wawel
Wawel is an architectural complex erected over many centuries atop a limestone outcrop on the left bank of the Vistula River in Kraków, Poland, at an altitude of 228 metres above the sea level. It is a place of great significance to the Polish people. The Royal Castle with an armoury and the...

 hill, following a fire in 1595, Trevano rebuilt the state apartments of the Royal Castle for Sigismund III Vasa.

Also on the Wawel hill, in the Cathedral Church of St Wenceslas, which has been repeatedly reconstructed around the 11th-century shrine of St. Stanislaus of Szczepanów
Stanislaus of Szczepanów
Stanislaus of Szczepanów, or Stanisław Szczepanowski, was a Bishop of Kraków known chiefly for having been martyred by the Polish king Bolesław II the Bold...

, Trevano built the shrine-mausoleum with the crossing dome, supported on four piers (1626–29).

The first Baroque church in Poland
Baroque in Poland
The Polish Baroque lasted from the late 16th to the mid-18th century. As with Baroque style elsewhere in Europe, Poland's Baroque emphasized the richness and triumphant power of contemporary art forms. In contrast to the previous, Renaissance style which sought to depict the beauty and harmony of...

 is that of St. Peter and Paul in Ulica Grodzka, erected by order of Sigismund III Vasa for the Jesuits in the years 1597—1619. It was designed by Giovanni de Rossi as a cruciform basilica with a domed crossing and completed by Trevano. As with Jesuit churches throughout Catholic Europe, its façade is a close variant of that provided by Giacomo Della Porta
Giacomo della Porta
Giacomo della Porta was an Italian architect and sculptor, who worked on many important buildings in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica. He was born at Porlezza, Lombardy and died in Rome.-Biography:...

 for the Church of the Gesù, the Jesuit Mother Church in Rome.

Also In Kraków, St Martin's Church (Kosciol sw. Marcina), was built by Trevano, 1638–44. It has been used for Lutheran worship since 1816. In Ulica sw. Jana, no.12, the Krauze House (Kamienica Krauzowska, now housing the Kraków History Museum) was originally a Gothic building but was remodeled by Giovanni Petrini and Trevano in 1611. The house has a doorway with a segmental pediment.

In Kielce
Kielce
Kielce ) is a city in central Poland with 204,891 inhabitants . It is also the capital city of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship since 1999, previously in Kielce Voivodeship...

 the bishop's palace, built 1637–41 for Jakub Zadzik
Jakub Zadzik
Jakub Zadzik was a Polish Great Crown Secretary from 1613 to 1627, bishop of Chełmno from 1624, Crown Deputy Chancellor from 1627, Great Crown Chancellor from 1628 to 1635, bishop of Kraków from 1635, diplomat, szlachcic, magnate in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth...

as a personal monument, is undocumented but is attributed to Trevano, though Tomasso Poncino, another Italian working in Poland but mainly as a building contractor, is credited with carrying out the construction and working out some of the architectural detail. The palace stands out in Poland in retaining its original features virtually unchanged.

Further reading

  • Dmochowski, Zbigniew, The Architecture of Poland (London, 1956)
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