Kościół pw. Matki Bożej Częstochowskiej (ul. Doktora Józefa Babińskiego)
Churches of Kraków
Church (Roman Catholic), Dębniki district. Date according to OpenStreetMap: 1913. A listed monument (heritage register).
History
The Chapel of Our Lady of Częstochowa belongs to the historic hospital-and-park complex in Kobierzyn, in the Dębniki district. It stands at Babińskiego Street 29, in the grounds of the Dr Józef Babiński Clinical Hospital. Construction lasted from 1908 to 1913, and the chapel was built together with the whole psychiatric hospital. By the time the hospital began admitting patients in 1917, the chapel was already serving the faithful.
The Modernist design was prepared by Antoni Budkowski. The interior was decorated with polychrome paintings by Jan Bukowski, counted among the most outstanding artists of the Young Poland movement in Lesser Poland. Floral motifs, as well as angels and the Evangelists, were painted on the walls.
In 1994-1996 the chapel was renovated, with funding from the National Fund for the Restoration of Kraków's Monuments. Cardinal Franciszek Macharski gave it the status of a rectoral church in May 1998, while a separate rectorate in Kobierzyn was established only in 2005. Today the chapel is used by hospital patients, their families and friends, and local residents.
Did you know?
The Kobierzyn hospital was designed as a garden city, that is, a self-sufficient complex. That is why it was planned from the start with its own chapel, where independent pastoral care for patients was provided.