Kościół Zwiastowania Najświętszej Maryi Panny
Churches of Kraków
Church (Roman Catholic), Stare Miasto district. A listed monument (heritage register). Run by: Zakon Braci Mniejszych Kapucynów.
History
The Capuchins came to Kraków in 1695. The church was funded by Wojciech Dembiński, standard-bearer of Zator and Oświęcim, who also proposed its dedication - to the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. His epitaph with a portrait and a marble sarcophagus have survived in the church. The first Mass in the new church was celebrated on 15 August 1700, and it was consecrated in 1703 by the auxiliary bishop Kazimierz Łubieński.
The church was built on Tuscan Baroque models and resembles the traditional Italian Capuchin churches. Above the high altar hangs a painting of the Annunciation painted in 1701 by Pietro Dandini of Florence; it came to the Kraków Capuchins at the behest of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo III de' Medici. A cannonball is lodged in a side pillar next to the chancel; it flew into the church on 15 August 1768 during fighting between the Bar Confederates and the Russian army.
Memorial plaques honouring distinguished commanders and military epitaphs, including one to Romuald Traugutt, adorn the walls of the church, the cloisters, the chapels and the porch. This remarkable collection came about because from the time of the Kościuszko Uprising until the outbreak of the First World War the Capuchins served as chaplains to the insurgents and accompanied successive national uprisings. On the north side of the church stands a Loreto house from the early 18th century, and on the little square beside it a statue of St John of Nepomuk from the same century. Near the monastery several Bar Confederates were killed in 1768 and buried in a common grave; today a cross with a commemorative plaque stands there.
Did you know?
In the right-hand side altar stands a figure of Our Lady known as the Wanderer: it comes from the façade of the house at 24 Grodzka Street, was scorched in the city fire of 1850, and after it was handed over to the Capuchins in 1899 it took five years to find a place for it, hence the name. Tradition has it that Helena Modrzejewska liked to pray before it.