Kościół pw. Miłosierdzia Bożego (Wzgórza Krzesławickie)
Churches of Kraków
Church (Roman Catholic), Wzgórza Krzesławickie district. Architect: Witold Cęckiewicz.
History
In the second half of the 1970s Cardinal Karol Wojtyła planned to divide the large parishes of Nowa Huta, Mogiła and Bieńczyce. One of the new communities was to serve the residents of the Na Stoku, Na Wzgórzach and Grębałów estates. The President of Kraków, Edward Barszcz, gave permission to build a church and designated a site for it on the Na Wzgórzach estate - this happened on 24 May 1980. In May 1981 the church authorities approved a design by Witold Cęckiewicz, and on 22 October of the same year Cardinal Franciszek Macharski established the parish of the Divine Mercy. The decree came into force three days later.
Construction began in May 1982. The ground was waterlogged, so 224 piles, each thirteen metres long, were first driven in beneath the foundations. Pope John Paul II blessed the foundation stone on 23 June 1983 during a Mass on Kraków's Błonia meadows. By September 1984 the iron roof structure was standing and work began on covering it with copper sheeting. A 40-metre tower topped with a ten-metre cross was also built, and in 1985 three bells were hung in it. Macharski consecrated the finished church on 7 June 1987.
The building is modern and slender in form. The interior is not divided into aisles - it forms a single hall. On the first level is the Chapel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the church proper lies above it.
Did you know?
The organ in this church was built in 1961 by Albert Reiser and originally stood in the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Heilbronn, Germany. The Kraków parish bought the instrument in 1994, and it was restored in 2009.