Kościół pw. Niepokalanego Serca Najświętszej Marii Panny
Churches of Kraków
Church (Roman Catholic), Stare Miasto district. A listed monument (heritage register). Run by: Zgromadzenie Sióstr św. Feliksa z Kantalicjo.
History
The Church of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary stands in Nowy Świat, at 6 Smoleńsk Street. It is both a parish church and the convent church of the Felician Sisters. It was built in 1882-1884 to a design by Feliks Księżarski, for the nuns who had to leave the Russian partition after the January Uprising was crushed. In the neighbouring house in the garden the sisters ran the Sister Salomea Student Kitchen.
The building is Neo-Romanesque, a pseudo-basilica with galleries. Its tower is topped by a shining golden crown, a nod to the crown on St Mary's Basilica. Inside rests Blessed Mother Angela, foundress of the Felician congregation. Next to the church, at 2-6 Smoleńsk Street, are also the sisters' convent and the building of the St Padre Pio Aid Society.
The history of this place is linked to one more project. In 1931 the sisters exchanged their farm in Tyniec for part of the garden on the corner of Straszewskiego and Zwierzyniecka Streets. A Catholic House with the Świt cinema was built there, and today the site is home to the Philharmonic.
Did you know?
Smoleńsk Street follows the line of an old road from the Vistula Gate to the Smoleńsk jurydyka, a private settlement outside the city's jurisdiction. It got its present name in 1881, just before construction of the church began.