Kościół pw. Najświętszego Imienia Maryi
Churches of Kraków
Church (Roman Catholic), Prądnik Czerwony district.
History
The former Zagórski family farmstead, on whose land the Piarist church and monastery stand today, passed to the order in 1910. The estate was bought from Honorata Jachimska, heiress of the Zagórskis. A chicory factory had stood here before, and it was on its site that a chapel was built in 1911 to a design by the architect Jan Sas-Zubrzycki. It was intended for the educational institution being set up next door, but the residents of Rakowice also attended services there. It was blessed in July 1911 by Bishop Anatol Nowak, auxiliary to Cardinal Jan Duklan Puzyna.
During the Second World War, on 8 September 1939, German soldiers wrecked the chapel together with its liturgical vestments and furnishings. The interior was restored in 1940-1945 to a design by the painter Kazimierz Puchała. Archbishop Adam Stefan Sapieha created a parish in Rakowice in November 1948, and the chapel began to serve as the parish church. A rebuilding in 1971 added side aisles, and the renovated church was blessed by Cardinal Karol Wojtyła.
The building is small, with three aisles in a pseudo-basilica layout and a gabled roof. The chancel has a flat end wall and was built higher than the main nave. The façade is topped by a triangular glazed gable with a small turret-shaped bell tower. Inside hangs a painting of Our Lady of Grace, and the organ has 13 stops, two manuals and a pedalboard.
Did you know?
The Rakowice parish was later divided: on 22 May 1983 a separate parish of Our Lady of Ostra Brama on Meissnera Street was carved out of it.