Kościół pw. Świętego Antoniego Padewskiego
Churches of Kraków
Parish church (Roman Catholic), Bronowice district. A parish is a community of believers tied to a particular church.
History
The church in Bronowice Małe has an unusual shape: it is a former manor house that belonged to the archpriest of St Mary's Basilica, because the village of Bronowice Małe came under his authority. The building that survives today dated from the early 19th century. In 1963 it was decided to convert it into a parish church, and the design was prepared by the Kraków architect Antoni Mazur. For a long time the church's architecture echoed a nobleman's manor house, and the façade facing Pod Strzechą Street was decorated with a portico on four reinforced-concrete columns. In 1979-1983 the church was enlarged at the expense of that portico. The parish was established in 1949, building work lasted from 1963 to 1983, and the church was consecrated in 1999 by Cardinal Franciszek Macharski.
The altars hold an 18th-century painting of the Virgin Mary, moved here from St Mary's Basilica, and a sculpture of the Man of Sorrows from 1480, attributed to Mikołaj Haberschrack. On the inner wall of the façade hangs a triptych by Leon Kowalski from the first half of the 20th century, showing the Adoration of the Christ Child in Bronowice. Next to the church stand buildings of the former manor farm, including an annexe from the first half of the 19th century, as well as the remains of the manor park.
Did you know?
The last hidden remnant of the old manor house is the church's cellars, which probably date from the 16th century.