St. Francis's Church and Monastery of Franciscans
Main data:
Year of construction: 1737
Year of reconstruction: -
Designer: Jan Baptista Ceroni, Jozef Solari , Jakub and Jan Fontana
Location: ul. Zakroczymska 1
When we walk through Warsaw New Town we can wonder why there are so many churches on quite a small area. There are 8 of them in this part of the city. The answer is easy. Only one of them is a parish church - the gothic temple of Visitation of Blessed Virgin Mary. And all the other ones where founded by different orders who settled in Warsaw. Some of them were brought here by kings. And so, one by one, first Dominicans settled in Warsaw (in 1603), then Piarists (1642), Franciscans (1646), Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God (1649), Pauline Fathers (1662), Sacramentine Nuns (1687) and Redemptorists (1787). All of that orders built their own temple sooner or later, that is why we can see today so many of them.
Franciscans came to Warsaw on the initiative of king Wladyslaw IV in 1646. The king brought them at insistence of his court chaplain father Wincenty Scapita, who was also a Franciscan from Italy. Franciscan Fathers received a plot for the construction of their monastery on the area which was at that time outskirts of the town - next to the track to Zakroczym (today's Zakroczymska Street). The first church built on the plot was wooden (its name was St. Francis's church, like current one) - it did not survived for long - it was destroyed during Swedish Deluge, only 10 years after its construction.
The cornerstone of the new, stone church was put in 1679. But the construction lasted not less than 58 years - what makes the temple one of the longest built churches in Warsaw. In all that time concepts about the building's appearance, and also its designers had been changing - the result was a bit disproportional and too angular solid of the building. Initially, Jan Baptista Ceroni and Jozef Solari were the designers of the church - they modeled the building on the church of Santa Maria della Victoria in Rome - on the plan of Latin cross, with chancel the same height as the nave. The church's founders were king Jan III Sobieski and also Adam Kotowski (the same one who took part in foundation of Dominicans' and Sacramentine Nuns' churches). Until 1700 only chancel and foundations of main nave were finished. From 1708 to 1712 the construction was stopped because of a plaque - only one Franciscan brother survived from it. Starting from 1713 the works were continued by Jakub and Jan Fontana - they modified the initial project - added chapels that joined the arms of the cross with the towers - that changed the plan of the church from one-naved into three-naved. Next to the church a classicist monastery building was constructed. The church was consecrated in 1737, but soon it turned out to be too small. The temple was rebuilt in 1788 by Jozef Boretti. Also then the church's facade and the monastery building gained their final appearance.
From 1797 hard times for the Franciscans started - Tsar authorities drove the brothers out and secularised the order. The monastery's building changed its function a few times afterwards - first (from 1797) it was a prison (called at that time "A house of punishment and recovery"), later (from 1837) - an office of Warsaw Clerical Academy, then (from 1864) - an office of Warsaw Land Society and Russian Charity Society (which led a kindergarten for military men's children here). The temple became in that time a military church.
The Franciscans came back to the monastery in 1919. Between First and Second World War some renovations were made in the church and second floor was added to the monastery building. It is worth mentioning that this building was not only the order's property at that time - also a few private flats were located inside and workshops of Fiat.
During Second World War the church was neighbouring with Warsaw Ghetto. Its north-eastern corner was located just here. Today, at Franciszkanska street, just next to the church's wall we can see where the Ghetto's wall was situated - its location is marked here in the pavement (like in many other places in the Centre of Warsaw).
During Warsaw Uprising the church was partly destroyed, during one of bombings 40 people, who hided in the church's basement were killed. But still the scale of destruction was not as much as in other churches of Old and New Town, walls and much of the furnishing survived. On 21st of January 1945 the first thanksgiving mass in liberated Warsaw took place here. As the damage of the church's structure itself was not much, it was ready for use soon after the war. But renovation of the interior and completing the furnishing lasted until 1970s. In 1990s small reparations were made and in 2007 a renovation of the temple and the monastery building took place.
Furnishing of the church:
Much of original baroque furnishing survived during the Second World War, so we can see it today in the church.
The main altar was made in the workshop of Bartlomiej Bernatowicz in 1724, it was renovated after the war in years 1973-83. There is a copy of a 17th-centurial painting "Stigmatisation of St. Francis" by Matthias Kargen in the altar (the original one, from first wooden church is kept in the National Museum).
On the right side, at the end of transept there is another altar by Bernatowicz with a painting by Kargen - this one is an original one. It is a painting of St. Anthony, it dates back to 1644 and is said to be the most valuable item of the temple. And on the left end of the transept there is a chapel with the altar of Crucified Jesus.
Next to the chancel there is a chapel of St. Maximilian Kolbe. A rather macabre item can be seen there - an urn with a wax figure with relics of St. Vitalis inside it - which was given to the Franciscans by the Pope Benedict XIV.
On both sides of main nave there are more chapels, which are connected with each other, so in some way they form aisles - it is a result of reconstruction of Jakub and Jan Fontana (according to the initial project the temple was supposed to be one-naved). In those chapels there are altars of St. Joseph, of Our Lady of Consolation, of St. Jude Thaddeus and of Our Lady of Czestochowa. Paintings located in those chapels come mainly from 17th and 18th century.
A baroque pulpit is also a valuable item. Moreover, there are many epitaphs in the church, among others two late-baroque ones (from 18th century) - of Konstanty Franciszek Mokronowski and Wladyslaw Grzegorzewski.
Practical information:
Masses in St. Francis's Church take place on weekdays at 6.30, 8.00, 10.00 and 19.00, and on Sundays and holidays at 7.00, 8.30, 10.00, 11.30, 13.00, 17.00 and 19.00. More information about the church and the monastery can be found on its official website (only in Polish): www.warszawa.franciszkanie.pl.
Views from the outside:
The interior of the church:
(C) 2001-2010 Maciej Blazejewski