Kościół pw. Najświętszego Serca Pana Jezusa (ul. Warszawska)
Churches of Kraków
Church (Roman Catholic), Stare Miasto district. Architect: Filip Pokutyński. A listed monument (heritage register). Run by: Zgromadzenie Sióstr Miłosierdzia św. Wincentego à Paulo (Szarytki).
History
The Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus belongs to the Daughters of Charity and stands in Kleparz, at Warszawska Street 8. It was built together with the convent in 1869-1871, to a neo-Romanesque design by Filip Pokutyński, on the site of the former Church of Sts Simon and Jude. It has a single nave, a transept and a small chancel ending in an apse. The building is so closely merged with the convent buildings that it is practically invisible from the street. Inside is a crypt where Bishop Ludwik Łętowski, the founder of the convent, is buried.
The site has a much longer history. As early as 1528 there is mention of a fire at the Chapel of Divine Mercy, which stood by a hospital for plague victims on the road leading north from Kleparz. In 1575 the Kleparz councillors built the Church of Sts Simon and Jude on the same spot, which also served as the hospital chapel. At first it was wooden; after a fire in 1640 and damage during the Swedish Deluge, the Kleparz town council rebuilt it, this time in brick, but in 1755 it was destroyed by fire again. At the beginning of the 19th century it was turned into a granary. In 1859 Bishop Łętowski bought it and handed it over to the Daughters of Charity, who in 1871 pulled down part of the walls and incorporated the rest into the convent and new church they were building.
Did you know?
A description from 1748 says that the brick Church of Sts Simon and Jude faced west and had four altars and a music gallery inside, and a brick sacristy stood against its wall.