Kościół pw. Świętej Jadwigi Królowej (ul. Władysława Łokietka)
Churches of Kraków
Church (Roman Catholic), Prądnik Biały district.
History
The Church of St Hedwig the Queen on Łokietka Street was built for the new housing estate in Krowodrza Górka. The first services were held in a temporary chapel and catechesis centre on Pod Fortem Street, a few hundred metres from the present church. The small chapel could not hold all the residents of the XXX-lecia PRL estate (today Krowodrza Górka) and part of Azory, so on Sundays Mass was usually celebrated in the open air.
Building permission was granted on 27 November 1977, and in 1979 the design was approved and work began. The lower church was finished first: Cardinal Franciszek Macharski blessed it on 17 May 1983, and services were held there until construction was complete. The same cardinal blessed the finished church on 17 November 1988, and it was consecrated on 10 June 1990.
The church was designed by Romuald Loegler and Jacek Czekaj. It is built on the plan of a Greek cross, and its massive Modernist form blends into the estate around it. The sarcophagus-shaped altar holds relics of the patron saint, given by John Paul II. In the chancel, on a steel cross, is a replica of the crucified Christ from Wawel Cathedral, and next to it stands a large cast of Queen Jadwiga at prayer.
The crypt houses the National Pantheon of Home Army Soldiers of the Polish Eastern Borderlands, and the church itself serves as the patronal and garrison church of these soldiers. John Paul II canonised Jadwiga, Queen of Poland, on 8 June 1997, during his sixth journey to Poland, and the next day, at noon, he visited this church. A small wayside shrine on Krowoderskich Zuchów Street commemorates the visit.
Did you know?
The cross in front of the main entrance was part of the papal altar built on Błonia Park when John Paul II first came to Poland as pope. Nearby, on 19 July 1992, the Stone of Faith and Independence was unveiled; a large part of it is a fragment of the first Grunwald Monument from Matejko Square.