Kościół św. Piotra i Pawła
Churches of Kraków
The first Baroque church in Poland.
History
The Church of Sts Peter and Paul on Grodzka Street is the first Baroque building in Kraków. It was founded for the Jesuits by King Sigismund III Vasa, and construction began in 1597. The plans were probably drawn up by Giovanni de Rosis; the design was first carried out by Józef Brizio and then modified by Giovanni Maria Bernardoni. The church was given its final form in 1610-1619 by Giovanni Trevano, who created the facade, the dome and the interior decoration. It was consecrated on 8 July 1635.
When the Jesuit order was dissolved in 1773, the church came under the administration of the Commission of National Education, which handed it over to the university, and in 1786 to the Cistercians of Mogiła. In 1809-1815 it served as an Orthodox church. Since 1830 it has housed the All Saints parish, moved here from the former All Saints' Church.
The two-storey dolomite facade resembles a Roman church designed by Carlo Maderno, but it also echoes Il Gesù. Statues of Jesuit saints stand in the niches, and the facade is crowned with the founder's coat of arms. The square in front of the church is enclosed by a fence with statues of the apostles designed by Kacper Bażanka; today it holds modern copies, because acid rain washed away the faces of the 1722 sculptures. The interior is decorated with stucco by several workshops, and the lighting was designed to serve the theatricality of the Baroque liturgy. Among those buried in the crypt are Fr Piotr Skarga and Bishop Andrzej Trzebicki, and since 2010 work has been under way on the National Pantheon, where Sławomir Mrożek, Adam Zagajewski and Krzysztof Penderecki, among others, have been laid to rest.
Did you know?
The church houses the longest Foucault pendulum in Poland, measuring 46.5 m. And in 1638 the Jesuits founded here the largest musical ensemble in Poland at the time, with between 80 and 100 singers.