Kościół pw. Matki Bożej Nieustającej Pomocy (ul. Jana Zamoyskiego)
Churches of Kraków
Parish church (Roman Catholic), Podgórze district. Date according to OpenStreetMap: 1983. A place of pilgrimage (shrine). A parish is a community of believers tied to a particular church. A listed monument (heritage register).
History
The Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help at 56 Zamoyskiego Street in Podgórze belongs to the Redemptorists and serves as both a parish and a monastery church. Construction began with the monastery in 1902, and work on the church itself started three years later. It was blessed on 8 September 1906 by Bishop Anatol Nowak. The plans were drawn up by Jan Sas-Zubrzycki, who combined the Neo-Romanesque style with Neo-Gothic elements.
The building is made of brick with stone details and is shaped like a Latin cross: a three-aisled basilica with a transept. The entrance is a stone portico with semicircular arches, flanked by two low turrets. Beside the chancel rises a square clock tower with a pyramid roof. Stone figures of Christ and Our Lady of Sorrows stand on the gables of the transept arms.
In 1908 the high altar was installed in the chancel. It was designed by Sas-Zubrzycki and made by Stanisław Wójcik, a professor at the school of sculpture in Zakopane. In the altar niche is the painting of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a copy of the image in the Redemptorist church of St Alphonsus in Rome. The Podgórze version was painted in Rome in 1903 and brought to Poland by Bernard Łubieński. The painting, measuring 53 by 41 cm, was made on a gilded mahogany panel.
The look of the interior has changed over time. In 1922-1923 Julian Krupski, a professor from Lviv, covered the walls and vaults with paintings inspired by the Litany of Loreto. From 1970 to 1973 these were replaced by mosaics by Stanisław Jakubczyk. In 2023 the Redemptorist Major Seminary moved from Tuchów to the religious house next to the church.
Did you know?
The altars in the transept are not the work of Sas-Zubrzycki. They were mass-produced in Bavarian and Austrian workshops.