Kościół pw. Opieki Świętego Józefa
Churches of Kraków
Church (Roman Catholic), Stare Miasto district. Architect: Tadeusz Stryjeński. A listed monument (heritage register). Run by: Zakon Karmelitanek Bosych.
History
The church at 40 Łobzowska Street, in Piasek, is both a parish and a convent church - it belongs to the Discalced Carmelite nuns. The sisters came to Kraków in 1874, after being forced to leave Poznań. They were given a former villa with a garden, and it was on its grounds that today's church and convent complex was built.
The church and convent were built in 1903-1905 in the modernist style. They were designed by the Kraków architects Tadeusz Stryjeński and Franciszek Mączyński. Stryjeński was born near Geneva, studied in Zurich and Paris, and from 1879 ran his own design and building firm in Kraków. He was also a conservator of historic monuments, including St Mary's Basilica, and was the first architect in Poland to use reinforced concrete structures. Together with Mączyński he also designed the Pod Globusem house on Długa Street. The church interior has neo-Gothic furnishings, so the modern building hides a traditional décor.
Did you know?
For his work on the conservation of St Mary's Basilica, Tadeusz Stryjeński was given his own likeness there: a carved head of the architect, based on a drawing by Jan Matejko, was made by the right-hand exit from the chancel onto St Mary's Square.