Bishop Alexander of Malonne

Bishop Alexander of Malonne – Builder of the Cathedral and Patron of the Płock Doors

The exact date of his birth is unknown, but it is assumed to have been at the end of the 11th century. He came from a knightly family and was part of the cathedral chapter in Liège or Malonne, which belonged to the Diocese of Liège. In 1129, he became the bishop of Płock as the fifth ruler of the diocese established in 1075. He cooperated with two outstanding princes of Mazovia. The first was the ruler of Poland, Bolesław the Wrymouth, whom Alexander buried in the newly built cathedral next to his father, Władysław I Herman. The second was Bolesław IV the Curly.

Combining spiritual and secular authority, Alexander proved to be an energetic and contradictory man. Wincenty Kadłubek described him critically, saying he was both a lamb and a lion, a wolf and a shepherd, an armed man and a pious one. He went down in history more as a patron of the arts than as a politician. He contributed to Polish sacred architecture in the 12th century by erecting the first brick cathedral in Mazovia, consecrated in 1144.

It was a three-nave building with a transept and apses. The western part contained a choir, corresponding to the westworks in Ottonian architecture. The main entrance was in the north portal, near the towers located in the western facade. For this portal, Alexander commissioned bronze doors in Magdeburg, made by a foundry belonging to the church factory then managed by Bishop Wichman, with master Riquin as the main creator of the doors.

Alexander died in 1156, and his depiction on the Płock Doors is the only representation of him in 12th-century art that has survived to this day.

Płock Doors

The Płock Doors, also known as the Magdeburg Doors, Korsun Doors, or Sigtuna Doors, were bronze doors once located in the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Płock. This is a relic of Romanesque art. Currently, the original doors are in the western portal of St. Sophia’s Cathedral in Veliky Novgorod, Russia, and a bronze casting (copy) has been in the Płock Cathedral since 1982.

Research indicates that the doors were probably in Płock for about 250 years before they adorned St. Sophia’s Cathedral in Veliky Novgorod. It is unclear how the doors ended up in Novgorod. According to a 15th-century legend, they were brought from Byzantium by Prince Vladimir the Great via Korsun in Crimea (hence the name Korsun Doors), although this is unlikely.

According to some historical hypotheses, they were looted in the 13th century by Lithuanians during their raid on Masovia. Other historians believe they were given as a gift by the Polish clergy or the dukes of Płock to Prince Lingwen Olgierdovich of Novgorod, brother of Władysław II Jagiełło. Some sources say they arrived in Novgorod as early as 1170, shortly after being made, while others suggest before the mid-15th century. According to a version announced in 1823 by Friedrich von Adelung, the doors are a military trophy of the Novgorodians (specifically Karelians, Estonians, Izhoras, and northern Russians), who captured them in 1187 during an expedition to the then-capital of Sweden, Sigtuna (hence the 19th-century name Sigtuna Doors).

The doors for the Płock Cathedral were ordered by Bishop Alexander of Malonne (died 1156). Master Riquin, with assistant Waismut, cast them in bronze using the lost-wax technique between 1152 and 1154 in one of the Magdeburg foundries. It is uncertain whether it belonged to the local fabrica ecclesiae, operating at the cathedral, managed by Bishop Wichman of Wettin (c. 1110–1192).

Figures of bishops and craftsmen are among the reliefs, to which in the first quarter of the 15th century, the representation of a Russian caster, Master Abraham, was added. He also adapted the doors to the western portal of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Veliky Novgorod, adding Cyrillic inscriptions translated from Latin. It is hypothetically assumed that the doors were looted from Płock at the end of the 13th century and, after various fates, were hung as a “copper icon” in an Orthodox church at the beginning of the 15th century.