St Anne's Church

Today’s church is the third to stand on this site. The first, wooden church was built here in the 14th century in the centre of the Jewish district, and was adjacent to a synagogue and mikveh (ritual baths). It burned down in 1407 during an anti-Jewish riot. The reconstruction of the church in brick or stone was financed by King Ladislaus Jagiełło, who entrusted it to the care of the Kraków Academy. The successive church buildings standing in this location have retained the status of collegiate church to this day.

In the 17th century, professors from the Academy, now the Jagiellonian University, supported by King John III Sobieski, a graduate of the Academy, decided to build a new church which would be more splendid and better fitting the preferences of the time. Thanks to the architect Tylman van Gameren and his design, one of Poland’s most magnificent baroque buildings, modelled on the San Andrea della Valle Church in Rome, was built in 1689-1703. The wide, screen façade is a masterpiece adapted to the difficult viewing conditions: from an angle from the perspective of a narrow street. It is adorned by figures of St Kazimierz and St Florian standing in the upper storey, and of St Bernard of Clairvaux and St John of Kęty in the lower one.

Richly decorated, the three-aisled interior creates a powerful impression. Both the sculpted and stucco decorations by the Italian master, Baldassare Fontana, and the paintings produced by his compatriots, the brothers Monti and a Swede, Karol Dankwart, seem to live their own lives. Especially fanciful and striking are the stucco decorations and sculptures on the ceiling. The final picture is complemented by the dome resting on spherical pendentives depicting the four cardinal virtues: Prudence, Temperance, Justice, and Fortitude. The high altar features the central painting of St Anne with the Twine (i.e. accompanied by the Blessed Virgin and Infant Jesus), and the gloria above it is illuminated with natural light.

The southern (right) end of the transept is taken by the altar tomb (the so-called Confession) of St John of Kęty (Kanty, d. 1473), theologian, and a graduate, lecturer and patron of the Jagiellonian University. The coffin of the Saint rests on the shoulders of four figures being allegories of the four faculties of the University that existed in his days: Theology, Medicine, Philosophy, and Law. Standing next to the confession are buńczuki: horse’s tails trophies won on Turks in the Battle of Vienna in 1683. The most beautiful traditions of the parish include the annual procession of St John of Kęty held every October in which the University’s professors participate.

In the northern (left) section of the transept it is worth noting the modest monument to Nicolas Copernicus put up here as a homage paid by the University to its most famous graduate. Interestingly, it was placed here in 1823, when the astronomer’s writings were still on the index of books prohibited by the Church, a step that required plenty of courage from Kraków professors.

Of interest may be the fact that it was here that Karol Chłapowski married Helena Modrzejewska, a great and famous actress, loved and admired both in Poland, and – under the name of Modjeska – overseas.