Kościół pw. Świętego Szczepana
Churches of Kraków
Parish church (Roman Catholic), Krowodrza district. Date according to OpenStreetMap: 1933. A place of pilgrimage (shrine). A parish is a community of believers tied to a particular church. A listed monument (heritage register).
History
St Stephen's Church stands in Kraków's Nowa Wieś, on Sienkiewicza Street. The parish has existed since 1278, but the present church is much younger: it was built in 1933-1938 to a design by Zdzisław Mączeński, in the spirit of interwar Modernism. The interior has three naves resting on eight pillars, and the crossing of the transept and the main nave is crowned by a round dome with a lantern. The high altar, with a sculpture of the patron, the martyr St Stephen, is accompanied by four side altars dedicated to Our Lady, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Divine Mercy and St Joseph.
The money for the building came from bank loans, donations from parishioners and family property sold by the parish priest and builder of the church, Father Andrzej Moliński. The names of the most generous donors are commemorated on the stained-glass windows and altars. During the Second World War the Germans desecrated the church, and in 1959 it was reconsecrated by Bishop Karol Wojtyła.
The new church preserves mementoes of the old, demolished St Stephen's Church. Among them are the painting "The Martyrdom of St Stephen", from the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, which some attribute to Hans von Aachen, as well as a bronze baptismal font from 1425 and reliquaries of St Ursula and St Stephen. The image of Our Lady of Consolation (16th century), together with its altar, also comes from the old church.
Did you know?
One of the stained-glass windows was funded by the father of the future Cardinal Franciszek Macharski.