Kościół pw. Świętej Katarzyny Aleksandryjskiej
Churches of Kraków
Parish church (Roman Catholic), Stare Miasto district. Date according to OpenStreetMap: 1342. A place of pilgrimage (shrine). A parish is a community of believers tied to a particular church. A listed monument (heritage register). Run by: Augustianie (OSA).
History
The Church of St Catherine of Alexandria in Kazimierz forms a single complex with the Augustinian friary. It owes its origins to Casimir the Great, who brought the Augustinians from Prague in 1342. Construction of the friary began with the east wing, which contains the chapels of St Thomas and St Dorothy. The king wanted the newly founded town of Kazimierz to have, besides its parish church of Corpus Christi, a church as beautiful as those in neighbouring Kraków.
The chancel was consecrated in 1378 by Bishop Jan Bodzanta, while the nave took much longer and was essentially completed in 1426. Around 1404 Ścibor of Ściborzyce funded the Chapel of St Monica on the site of the planned western bay, which is why the main body has only four bays. In 1443 an earthquake brought down the vault of the nave, and its rebuilding lasted until 1505. In 1634 the early Baroque high altar was installed.
After the Austrians dissolved the order, the church served as an arms store and then as a store for straw and hay. In 1827 the Senate of the Free City of Kraków even wanted to demolish it. It was saved by the intervention of Bishop Skórkowski and the President of the Senate, Kasper Wielogłowski, and by a restoration committee set up in 1833. The Augustinians returned here in 1814, and during the occupation almost all the friars were deported to concentration camps. Since 1942 it has been a parish church, and the order was re-established in Kraków in 1993.
It is well worth looking inside. In the south aisle stands the late Renaissance tomb of Wawrzyniec Spytek Jordan from the workshop of Santi Gucci, and in the north aisle hang Baroque paintings by Zachariasz Dzwonowski. Gothic and Renaissance frescoes survive in the friary cloisters, and a separate chapel holds the image of Our Lady of Consolation, considered probably the oldest miraculous image of the Virgin Mary in Poland.
Did you know?
In the south aisle hangs a Renaissance allegorical painting, the Wheel of Death, from around 1588. Next to it you can see a depiction of Our Lady of the Anchor.