Redemptorist Church

Established in Italy by Alfonso Liguori, the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, known as the Redemptorists, arrived in Poland already in 1788. Unfortunately the mission of the Order ended in less than 20 years with the brutal expulsion of the monks. Yet the Redemptorists were brought back again in the final years of the 19th century, and settled – among other places – in Podgórze, at that time still not part of Kraków. Shortly afterwards, in 1902, they began building a monastery on an empty plot in Adama Mickiewicza Street (today’s Jana Zamoyskiego Street), which was soon followed by work on the construction of a church. The latter, dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour (Help), was completed in 1909.

The design of the new church came from the drawing board of an eminent Kraków architect, Jan Sas-Zubrzycki, at the time completing the construction of the even more sumptuous Church of St Joseph in the nearby Market Square of Podgórze. Yet unlike the Church of St Joseph with its neo-Gothic architecture, already somewhat passé at that moment in time, the architect here presented quite unusual grand and severe neo-Romanesque forms. Terse in expression, this architecture provided a perfect starting point for modernism which was gaining popularity at the time. The expression of such tendencies is found in the main entrance to the church from Redemptorystów Street, with its summary decoration.

The image of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour is situated in the high altar. During the second world war, Karol Wojtyła would often come here to pray. After becoming Pope John Paul II, he reminisced: Many times after the night shift, when I was returning to the place where I lived, I visited your church in Kraków, the Redemptorist Church, the one with the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. I would stop there whenever I was on my way between the factory and my home. The image received papal crowns in 1994.