Kościół pw. Najświętszej Maryi Panny Królowej Polski
Churches of Kraków
Church (Roman Catholic), Zwierzyniec district.
History
The wooden church in Wola Justowska has come a long way. It was probably built in the first half of the 16th century in Komorowice, where it was dedicated to St John the Baptist, and it was enlarged before 1644. It was renovated many times, and for a while it probably served as a Protestant prayer house. In the late 1940s it was moved to Wola Justowska, where it was meant to become part of a planned open-air museum. The open-air museum was never built, but in 1951 the church was given the status of a parish church. In Komorowice, a larger masonry church had already been built before the Second World War.
The building was of log construction, with a rectangular nave and a chancel closed on three sides of an octagon. Above the entrance rose a tower with a cupola decorated with four smaller turrets, and a small bell turret stood on the roof. A sacristy and two porches adjoined the building, and the whole was surrounded by soboty (covered external arcades). Inside, at the west end, was a music gallery supported on two posts, and a 16th-century crucifix hung on the rood beam.
A fire on the night of 13/14 July 1978 destroyed the church. It was soon decided to rebuild it, under the direction of Janusz Gawor, and in 1984 the church was consecrated anew. The wooden structure was faithfully recreated on the model of the old church from Komorowice, but it was set on a masonry crypt, where sculptures by Bronisław Chromy were placed. Another fire, on 5/6 April 2002, consumed this building; only the crypt survived the flames. Arson was considered the most likely cause.
Reconstruction began in 2016 to a new design: a masonry ground floor was built with a gallery serving as a choir above the main nave, and at choir level a structure recreating the shape of the burnt church. It was opened for use in May 2020.
Did you know?
The final scene of the film adaptation of The Deluge, directed by Jerzy Hoffman, was shot in this church.