St. Mary's Basilica, Kraków

Coordinates: 50°03′42″N 19°56′21″E / 50.06167°N 19.93917°E / 50.06167; 19.93917
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Basilica of Saint Mary
Church of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven
Gothic-style
Completed1347
CriteriaCultural: iv
Reference29
Inscription1978 (2nd Session)
Hejnał mariacki
Cracow historic trumpet alert to the city Hejnał mariacki
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Saint Mary's Basilica (

UNESCO World Heritage Site alongside the Historic Centre of Kraków
.

On every hour, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, a trumpet signal—called the

Hejnał mariacki—is played from the top of the taller of Saint Mary's two towers. The plaintive tune breaks off in mid-stream, to commemorate a famous 13th century trumpeter who was shot in the throat while sounding the alarm before a Mongol attack on the city. The noon-time hejnał is heard across Poland and abroad broadcast live by Polish Radio Jedynka.[1]
[2]

Saint Mary's Basilica also served as an architectural model for many of the churches that were built by the

Polish Cathedral style
.

The church is familiar to many English-speaking readers from the 1928 book The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly.

History

According to chronicler

early Gothic church was built on the remaining foundations. It was consecrated twenty years later, in 1320.[3]

The church was completely rebuilt during the reign of

presbytery was elongated and tall windows added. The main body of the church was completed in 1395–97 with the new vault constructed by master Nicholas Wernher from Prague.[3] However, the vault over the presbytery collapsed in 1442 due to a possible earthquake, which has never happened before nor since in Kraków.[4]

In the first half of the 15th century, the side chapels were added. Most of them were the work of master Franciszek Wiechoń. At the same time the northern tower was raised and designed to serve as the watch tower for the entire city. In 1478 carpenter Maciej Heringh (or Heringk)

Altarpiece of Veit Stoss (Ołtarz Mariacki Wita Stwosza) of late Gothic design.[4]

In 1536/37, King Sigismund I. declared that the sermons in the church should be changed from German to Polish. The large German community of Kraków were relocating their place of worship to the smaller Saint Barbara's church.[5]

In the 18th century, by the decision of vicar Jacek Augustyn Łopacki,[3] the interior was rebuilt in the late Baroque style. The author of this work was Francesco Placidi. All 26 altars, equipment, furniture, benches and paintings were replaced and the walls were decorated with polychrome, the work of Andrzej Radwański.[3] In the years immediately before 1730 the Venetian painter Giambattista Pittoni painted five altarpieces for the side altars of the central nave: The Annunciation, The Adoration of the Magi, Madonna and Child with St. Philip Neri, Mary Magdalene, St. Sebastian.[6]

At the beginning of the 19th century, the city decided that a cemetery near the basilica was to be shut down and replaced by a public square. Today, it is known as Plac Mariacki (Marian Square).

neo-Gothic design was introduced into the basilica. The temple gained a new design and murals painted and funded by Jan Matejko, who worked with Stanisław Wyspiański and Józef Mehoffer
- the authors of stained glass in the presbytery.

Since the beginning of 1990s, the basilica underwent an extensive renovation. In 2003, in the final stage of the works, the roof of the church was replaced.

On 18 April 2010, in Saint Mary's Basilica, a funeral ceremony for Polish president Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria was held. The coffins were later transported and buried in one of the crypts of Wawel Cathedral.

Gallery

  • Front view of the basillica
    Front view of the basillica
  • Aerial view
    Aerial view
  • Saint Mary's Church at sunset
    Saint Mary's Church at sunset
  • Adam Mickiewicz Monument in front of the basilica
    Adam Mickiewicz Monument in front of the basilica
  • Saint Mary's Church, seen from Floriańska Street
    Saint Mary's Church, seen from Floriańska Street
  • General view of Saint Mary's Basilica
    General view of Saint Mary's Basilica
  • Main nave
    Main nave
  • Gothic altarpiece by Veit Stoss (2021)
    Gothic altarpiece by Veit Stoss (2021)
  • St. Mary's Basilica in 1938
    St. Mary's Basilica in 1938
  • Cornet player, Hejnalista, in the tower of Saint Mary's Basilica
    Cornet player, Hejnalista, in the tower of Saint Mary's Basilica
  • pipe organ
    pipe organ
  • Cross in Saint Mary's church
    Cross in Saint Mary's church
  • Ciborium inside the basilica
    Ciborium inside the basilica
  • Matejko's polychrome interior murals
    Matejko's polychrome interior murals
  • Interior viewed from main altar
    Interior viewed from main altar
  • View from Mikołajska Street
    View from Mikołajska Street
  • Interior of the basilica
    Interior of the basilica
  • Altar Cross in Blessed Virgin Mary's Church
    Altar Cross in Blessed Virgin Mary's Church
  • Bronze orientation table of Saint Mary Basilica in Kraków
    Bronze orientation table of Saint Mary Basilica in Kraków

See also

  • Ołtarz Wita Stwosza (
    Altarpiece of Veit Stoss
    )
  • Jan Matejko 19th century design contribution
  • Polish Cathedral style
  • Roman Catholicism in Poland
  • Roman Catholic Marian churches

Notes and references

  1. ISBN 0-312-38708-3
    page 553
  2. ISBN 1-59158-723-9
    page 69
  3. ^ a b c d e f Editorial (2013). "Historia". Official webpage (in Polish). Bazylika Mariacka w Krakowie [St. Mary's Basilica in Krakow]. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  4. ^ a b c d Editorial (2013). "Kościół Mariacki". Zabytki Krakowa > Stare Miasto (in Polish, English, and German). Biuro Przewodników Krakowskich "Sowa" [Krakow Guides Bureau "Sowa"]. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  5. ^ Andrew Spicer (Ed.), Lutheran Churches in Early Modern Europe (Farnham 2012) p.378
  6. ^ "'Chiesa Mariacki' search query" (in Italian). Cini Foundation.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to St. Mary's church in Kraków.

50°03′42″N 19°56′21″E / 50.06167°N 19.93917°E / 50.06167; 19.93917

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