Description of the attraction
Basilica of the Holy Cross is a Catholic church located in the center of Warsaw on Krakowskie Przedmiescie Street opposite the main Warsaw University. The Basilica is one of the most famous baroque churches in Poland.
It is known that in 1510 on the site of the basilica there was a chapel of the Holy Cross. A wooden church was built in 1525, which was later expanded by Pavel Zembrzuski, as the church was too small to meet the needs of the growing city.
Originally located far outside the city limits, in the 17th century it became one of the main churches in the southern suburbs (suburb) of the city. In 1653, the church was transferred to the Lazarist order and became the main temple of the order in Poland.
The present church was built in 1679-1696 in the Baroque style according to the design of the court architect of King Joseph Simon Bellotti. The temple was consecrated by Michael Stefan Radheevsky on October 14, 1696.
The towers and domes were designed by Joseph Fontanam in the late Baroque style (1725-1737), and the façade was created in 1756 by Jakub Fontanam.
At the end of the 19th century, the church interior was slightly updated, and in 1882 the urn with the heart of Frederic Chopin was walled up in one of the pillars. A few decades later, an urn with the heart of Vladislav Reymont was added.
In 1944, during the Warsaw Uprising, the temple was seriously damaged: the facade was destroyed along with the vaults and the altar, the paintings "The Lord's Supper" and "Crucifixion" were destroyed. After that, the temple was blown up by the Germans in January 1945.
In the period from 1945 to 1953, the church was restored according to the project of the architect Zborovsky. The interior has undergone some changes: no baroque, no frescoes. The main altar was rebuilt between 1960 and 1972.
In 2002, Pope John Paul II raised the Church of the Holy Cross to the rank of a minor basilica.
