Kościół pw. Świętego Mikołaja
Churches of Kraków
Parish church (Roman Catholic), Grzegórzki district. Date according to OpenStreetMap: 12th century. A parish is a community of believers tied to a particular church. A listed monument (heritage register).
History
The Church of St Nicholas stands in Wesoła, on Kopernika Street. It first appears in a document issued by Pope Gregory IX for the Benedictines in 1229, but at that time it was referred to only as a chapel. It was first called a church in an indulgence document of 1298, and by 1327 it already had the rank of a parish church. Jan Długosz noted that in the 15th century the parish included Prądnik, Grzegórzki, Dąbie, Rakowice and Rybitwy, among other places.
In 1456 the Benedictines of Tyniec, led by Abbot Maciej Skawinka, handed the church and the right of patronage over to the University of Kraków. The university enlarged it considerably, first in the second half of the 15th century and then again in the first half of the 16th. In 1578 the parish priest Marcin Radomski built a hospital for the poor across the road, opposite the church.
The second half of the 17th century was the parish's most difficult time. In July 1652, after torrential rain, the Vistula burst its banks and the water flooded the church. In 1656, during the Swedish Deluge, the Swedes set fire to the church and then pulled down its walls, so that the besiegers could not use it to shell the city. Because of the enormous losses the rebuilding took a long time; it was led by the parish priest Jan Kopciowicz. Two altars were consecrated in 1662, but the whole church, rebuilt almost from scratch, was not consecrated until 1682, by Bishop Mikołaj Oborski.
Did you know?
In 1529 Zofia (Regina) Tarnowska, a Bernardine nun from the convent at St Agnes's Church, founded a college of mansionaries at this church and gave it a house where seven mansionary priests could live.