Jak sfinks w anioła się zmienił

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C o ma wspólnego sfinks z aniołem? Z pewnością znalazło by się trochę wspólnych cech. Oboje są istotami „nie z tego świata", oboje też latają. Ale czy możliwa jest przemiana jednego w drugie?<br>HOW A SPHINX TURNED INTO AN ANGEL. In 1999 in Węgorzewo village, in Masuria region, in Krzywa street (formerly Kacza street) the basements of two wooden huts were explored. The huts were situated at the boundary of the location city and populated by the members of 17th and 18th century populace. Among the remains of the hut number I, which had been burnt down most probably on the 11th of February, 1657, one mould tile was discovered. It is covered with green glaze paint, without undercoat. On the tile there are two, symmetrically depicted, fantastic animals guarding the so called "tree of life" - the plant growing in a bowl on a high stem. The "guardians" have heads, top parts of the bodies and legs of a horse, one unicorn-like horn on their foreheads, wings of an eagle and siren tails ended with "devils'" heads! The drawing shows the craftsman's carelessness. Above the relief there is a row of areas divided by diag-onal strokes. Every other area is either empty or covered with an ornament of grapes. Below the relief there is a band of styled leaves. Judging from the state of preservation of the tile it once had been built into a stove. However, in the hut in Kacza street it was not used as an element of construction but its aesthetical value was still appreciated. Today we may only guess the way of the castle or City Hall stove tile to the hut of one of the city poor. Nonetheless, it is an interesting example of the so called heraldic tile. Artefacts with similar representations are known from the castles of Bałdze and Bieżuń, although in comparison with the tile from Węgorzewo the figures of animals found there are much more styled and simplified. The prototype of ornaments on 17th century tiles are ancient capitals. In the collection in Nieborów there is a Renaissance copy of the capital of a pilaster or a column based on the 2nd century original. Here, "the guardians" are female sphinxes and the "devils'" heads are the heads of Pan. The appeal of ancient patterns and designs has always been so strong that very often they have been copied, more or less accurately, on contemporary objects. The design from the tile mentioned above reminds of the tile from the castle of Vilnius, where two angels carry the centrally situated "bell". In this way a sphinx turned into an angel.