Church of Saint Adalbert

The Church of Saint Adalbert is a historic Roman Catholic church located on the Main Market Square in Kraków.

History of the Church

According to tradition, the first wooden church was built on this site to commemorate the sermons preached by St. Adalbert (St. Wojciech). This suggests that the church was founded shortly after the canonisation of St. Adalbert in 999. Archaeological research has revealed, beneath the present building, the remains of an earlier stone church dating from the beginning of the 11th century, during the reign of Bolesław the Brave. This church was later replaced by another Romanesque church from the late 11th century, from the time of Bolesław the Bold. Fragments of its walls are still visible today in the lower parts of the current church.

In 1404 the church became a university prebend. In 1453 sermons were preached here by John of Capistrano. Between 1611 and 1618 the church was rebuilt in the Baroque style: the walls were raised, the building was covered with a dome, the Romanesque walls were plastered, and a new entrance was constructed on the western side. In 1711 a sacristy was added, and in 1778 a chapel dedicated to Blessed Wincenty Kadłubek was built.

Architecture

The church is a single-nave building covered with an elliptical dome and a presbytery closed with a straight wall. Two niches (pastophoria) adjoin the nave. On the northern side of the church there is a sacristy in a form resembling a semicircular apse, while on the southern side there is the rectangular chapel of Blessed Wincenty Kadłubek. The interior is entered through a late Baroque portal from the second half of the 18th century. The church furnishings are Baroque and date from around the mid-18th century. In the main altar there is a 17th-century copy of the painting of Our Lady of the Snows. A 15th-century crucifix hangs in the chancel arch. The chapel has a barrel vault with lunettes and contains a painting of Blessed Wincenty Kadłubek attributed to Szymon Czechowicz.

Interesting Facts

In the underground of the church there is an exhibition dedicated to the history of the Main Market Square.