Jesuit Church, Warsaw
Encyclopedia
Jesuit Church otherwise the Church of the Gracious Mother of God (Kościół Matki Bożej Łaskawej) is an ornate church in Warsaw
, Poland
. Immediately adjacent to St. John's Cathedral
, it is one of the most notable mannerist
churches in Poland
's capital. Its beautiful slender tower may be seen from the Old Town Market Place
.
and Podkomorzy Andrzej Bobola (the Old) at Piotr Skarga
's initiative, in 1609, for the Jesuits. The main building was constructed between 1609 and 1626 in the Polish Mannerist
style by Jan Frankiewicz.
In 1627 the church was encompassed with three chapels, and in 1635 Urszula Mayerin
, a great supporter of the Society of Jesus
, was buried within. Mayerin funded a silver
tabernacle
for the church. She was also King Sigismund III's mistress, and was politically influential. Her grave was plundered and destroyed by the Swedes and Brandenburg
Germans, in the 1650s, during the Deluge.
A vestibule
was added to the interior of the temple in 1633, and a choir was added three years later. An altar made of silver was installed by Cardinal Charles Ferdinand Vasa in the 1640s. The interior of the church was damaged and looted in 1656.
In later years the building became more and more splendid, with rich baroque
furnishings and marble
altar
s and floors. Two more chapel
s were added. The order of Jesuits was dissolved in 1773, the church changed ownership several times. For example, for some time it was a school church, later it was demoted to the role of the magazine of church furnishing, and then it was given to the order of Piarists. The Jesuits did not get the church back until the end of First World War. In 1920s and 1930s the church was renovated.
During World War II
, after the Germans suppressed the Warsaw Uprising
, they razed the Jesuit Church to the ground
.
All that remained of the four-hundred-year-old edifice was a great pile of rubble. Between the 1950s and 1973, the church was rebuilt in a simplified architectural style.
in 1753, together with reconstructed epitaphs of Sarbiewski
, Konarski, Kopczyński
and Kiliński
are displayed. A painting of Our Lady of Grace brought to Poland in 1651 by bishop Juan de Torres as a gift from Pope Innocent X
is also displayed, along with a preserved wooden crucifix
from 1383, a baroque sculpture of Our Lady of Grace, from the beginning of the 18th century and a stone sculpture of a laying bear from the half of 18th century.
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. Immediately adjacent to St. John's Cathedral
St. John's Cathedral, Warsaw
St. John's Archcathedral in Warsaw is a Catholic church in Warsaw's Old Town, is the only one archcathedral in Warszawa, the other 3 are cathedrals in the Polish capital. St. John's stands immediately adjacent to Warsaw's Jesuit church, and is one of the oldest churches in the city and the main...
, it is one of the most notable mannerist
Mannerism
Mannerism is a period of European art that emerged from the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It lasted until about 1580 in Italy, when a more Baroque style began to replace it, but Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century throughout much of Europe...
churches in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
's capital. Its beautiful slender tower may be seen from the Old Town Market Place
Old Town Market Place, Warsaw
Warsaw's Old Town Market Place is the center and oldest part of the Old Town of Warsaw, capital of Poland. Immediately after the Warsaw Uprising, it was systematically blown up by the German Army...
.
History
The Jesuit Church was founded by King Sigismund III VasaSigismund III Vasa
Sigismund III Vasa was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, a monarch of the united Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1587 to 1632, and King of Sweden from 1592 until he was deposed in 1599...
and Podkomorzy Andrzej Bobola (the Old) at Piotr Skarga
Piotr Skarga
Piotr Skarga was a Polish Jesuit, preacher, hagiographer, polemicist, and leading figure of the Counter-reformation in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was called the "Polish Bossuet" due to his oratorical abilities.He was born February 2, 1536 in Grójec, to a family of lesser landless gentry...
's initiative, in 1609, for the Jesuits. The main building was constructed between 1609 and 1626 in the Polish Mannerist
Mannerist architecture and sculpture in Poland
Mannerist architecture and sculpture in Poland dominated between 1550 and 1650, when it was finally replaced with baroque. The style includes various mannerist traditions, which are closely related with ethnic and religious diversity of the country, as well as with its economic and political...
style by Jan Frankiewicz.
In 1627 the church was encompassed with three chapels, and in 1635 Urszula Mayerin
Urszula Mayerin
Urszula Mayerin was mistress to King Sigismund III of Poland and a politically influential woman. Her real name might have been Gienger, but it is still a matter of dispute among historians; she signed all her letters as Urszula Meyerin...
, a great supporter of the Society of Jesus
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
, was buried within. Mayerin funded a silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
tabernacle
Church tabernacle
A tabernacle is the fixed, locked box in which, in some Christian churches, the Eucharist is "reserved" . A less obvious container, set into the wall, is called an aumbry....
for the church. She was also King Sigismund III's mistress, and was politically influential. Her grave was plundered and destroyed by the Swedes and Brandenburg
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
Germans, in the 1650s, during the Deluge.
A vestibule
Vestibule (architecture)
A vestibule is a lobby, entrance hall, or passage between the entrance and the interior of a building.The same term can apply to structures in modern or ancient roman architecture. In modern architecture vestibule typically refers to a small room or hall between an entrance and the interior of...
was added to the interior of the temple in 1633, and a choir was added three years later. An altar made of silver was installed by Cardinal Charles Ferdinand Vasa in the 1640s. The interior of the church was damaged and looted in 1656.
In later years the building became more and more splendid, with rich baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
furnishings and marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
s and floors. Two more chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
s were added. The order of Jesuits was dissolved in 1773, the church changed ownership several times. For example, for some time it was a school church, later it was demoted to the role of the magazine of church furnishing, and then it was given to the order of Piarists. The Jesuits did not get the church back until the end of First World War. In 1920s and 1930s the church was renovated.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, after the Germans suppressed the Warsaw Uprising
Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army , to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces...
, they razed the Jesuit Church to the ground
Planned destruction of Warsaw
The planned destruction of Warsaw refers to the largely realised plans by Nazi Germany to completely raze the city. The plan was put into full motion after the Warsaw Uprising in 1944...
.
All that remained of the four-hundred-year-old edifice was a great pile of rubble. Between the 1950s and 1973, the church was rebuilt in a simplified architectural style.
Interior
The facade is Mannerist, although the interior is completely modern, because very few of the original furnishings of the church were preserved. Inside, preserved fragments of a brilliant tomb monument of Jan Tarło carved by Jan Jerzy Plersch in white and black marbleMarble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
in 1753, together with reconstructed epitaphs of Sarbiewski
Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski
Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski , was Europe's most prominent Latin poet of the 17th century, and a renowned theoretician of poetics.-Life:...
, Konarski, Kopczyński
Onufry Kopczynski
Onufry Kopczyński was an important educator and grammarian of the Polish language in the period of Enlightenment in Poland.-Life and work:...
and Kiliński
Jan Kilinski
Jan Kiliński was one of the commanders of the Kościuszko Uprising. A shoemaker by trade, he commanded the Warsaw Uprising of 1794, an uprising against the Russian garrison in Warsaw. He became a member of Polish provisional government as well.Jan Kiliński was born in Trzemeszno, a minor town in...
are displayed. A painting of Our Lady of Grace brought to Poland in 1651 by bishop Juan de Torres as a gift from Pope Innocent X
Pope Innocent X
Pope Innocent X , born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj , was Pope from 1644 to 1655. Born in Rome of a family from Gubbio in Umbria who had come to Rome during the pontificate of Pope Innocent IX, he graduated from the Collegio Romano and followed a conventional cursus honorum, following his uncle...
is also displayed, along with a preserved wooden crucifix
Crucifix
A crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....
from 1383, a baroque sculpture of Our Lady of Grace, from the beginning of the 18th century and a stone sculpture of a laying bear from the half of 18th century.
Burials
- Karol Ferdynand Vasa
- Maciej Kazimierz SarbiewskiMaciej Kazimierz SarbiewskiMaciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski , was Europe's most prominent Latin poet of the 17th century, and a renowned theoretician of poetics.-Life:...
(1595–1640), EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
's most prominent LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
poetPoetA poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
of the 17th century.
External links
- Church of Our Lady of Grace
- Describtion and photos of the church Before the Second World War Matka Boża Łaskawa (Our Lady of Grace)
- sztuka.net Pictures of the church shortly after the war (the pile of rubble on the left of St. John's Cathedral).
See also
- List of mannerist structures in Central Poland
- St. Jacek's Church
- Warsaw Old TownWarsaw Old TownWarsaw's Old Town is the oldest historic district of the city. It is bounded by Wybrzeże Gdańskie, along the bank of the Vistula, and by Grodzka, Mostowa and Podwale Streets. It is one of Warsaw's most prominent tourist attractions....