Kościół pw. Matki Bożej Częstochowskiej (ul. Grzegorza Korzeniaka)
Churches of Kraków
Church (Roman Catholic), Zwierzyniec district.
History
The church in Olszanica, at Korzeniaka Street 16 in the Zwierzyniec district, was built in 1922-1924 in the Neo-Baroque style. It was consecrated in 1924 and considerably enlarged in 2012. It is served by the Capuchin Fathers.
The parish in Olszanica was created on 1 July 1938, when Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha separated it from the parish of the Holy Saviour. On 3 August that same year the Capuchin Order took over its care, and Father Felicjan Piskor was appointed its first parish priest. Within the parish stands a wayside statue of St John of Nepomuk from 1812.
The organ makes up an interesting part of the church's story. First there was a four-stop positive organ, built in 1849 by Johann Stross of Prešov. It was made for the Poor Clares of Stary Sącz and stood in their nuns' choir. It came to the church in Olszanica in 1928, but over the years it deteriorated and went out of tune. So in 1940 a harmonium was brought in temporarily from the Capuchin monastery on Loretańska Street in Kraków. A new organ was ordered in 1974 and built by Ryszard Plenikowski and Józef Adamczyk of Kartuzy. Installation began in mid-1977, and on 7 August that year the then provincial, Father Gracjan Majka, solemnly blessed the new instrument. Mieczysław Tuleja played at the opening concert.
Did you know?
In 1975 one of the friars bought an electric motor and bellows for the new organ in West Germany, because they were expected to last longer than those made in Poland.