Wawel Cathedral

Coordinates: 50°03′17″N 19°56′07″E / 50.0546°N 19.9354°E / 50.0546; 19.9354
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Wawel Cathedral
Katedra Wawelska (
Archdiocese of Kraków
RiteLatin
Ecclesiastical or organizational statusRoyal Arch-cathedral Basilica
StatusActive
Location
LocationKraków, Poland
Geographic coordinates50°03′17″N 19°56′07″E / 50.0546°N 19.9354°E / 50.0546; 19.9354
Architecture
TypeChurch
StyleRomanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical
Completed11th century

The Wawel Cathedral (

Polish monarchs
.

The current

mausoleums, most notable being the golden-domed Sigismund's Chapel
.

It is the official seat of the

priesthood offered his first Mass as a priest at the Wawel Crypt on 2 November 1946, and was ordained Kraków's auxiliary bishop in the cathedral on 28 September 1958.[1]

Interior

The cathedral comprises a nave with aisles, transepts with aisles, a choir with double aisles, and an apse with ambulatory and radiating chapels. The main altar, located in the apse, was founded about 1650 by Bishop Piotr Gembicki and created by Giovanni Battista Gisleni. The altar painting of Crucified Christ by Marcin Blechowski is from the 17th century.[2] Over the main altar stands a tall canopy of black marble supported by four pillars, designed by Giovanni Battista Trevano and Matteo Castelli between 1626 and 1629. Underneath the canopy is placed a silver coffin of national patron Stanislaus of Szczepanów (also Stanisław Szczepanowski) created between 1669 and 1671 after the previous one (donated in 1512 by King Sigismund I the Old) was stolen by the Swedes in 1655.[3]

The main gilded altar established in about 1650
Cenotaph of king Władysław of Varna
Tomb of king Casimir III the Great
Sarcophagus of St. Stanislaus
Sacristy
King Stephen Báthory's tomb monument

Sigismund's Chapel

Sigismund's Chapel, or Zygmunt Chapel ("Kaplica Zygmuntowska"),[4] adjoining the southern wall of the cathedral, is one of the most notable pieces of architecture in Kraków and perhaps "the purest example of Renaissance architecture outside Italy."[4] Financed by Sigismund I the Old, it was built between 1517 and 1533 by Bartolommeo Berrecci, a Florentine Renaissance architect, who spent most of his career in Poland.

A square-based chapel with a golden dome, it houses the tombs of its founder and those of his children, King Sigismund II Augustus and Anna Jagiellon (Jagiellonka).

The iconic three towers: Sigismund Tower, Clock Tower, and Silver Bell Tower
Main gate between the Holy Cross Chapel (right) and Holy Trinity Chapel (left)
Vasa chapel
Holy Cross chapel
Entrance to the Wawel cathedral, from the west
Sigismund's Chapel

Royal chapels and crypts

The Wawel Cathedral has been the main burial site for Polish monarchs since the 14th century. As such, it has been significantly extended and altered over time as individual rulers have added multiple burial chapels.

Schematic of Wawel Hill showing the location of the Wawel Cathedral
Burial chambers beneath Wawel Cathedral: A-I Royal Crypts (B St. Leonard's Crypt), J Crypt of National Poets, K Crypt of the Archbishops.

The crypts beneath the Wawel Cathedral hold the tombs of

Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces; Marshal Józef Piłsudski, founder of the Second Polish Republic.[5] Pope John Paul II celebrated his first mass in St. Leonard's Crypt. He considered being buried at the Wawel Cathedral also at one point in time, while some of the people of Poland had hoped that, following ancient custom, his heart would be brought there and kept alongside the remains of the great Polish rulers. (John Paul II was buried under St. Peter's Basilica
, a papal burial site since antiquity, instead.)

Crypt of National Poets

Here are buried the national bards: Adam Mickiewicz (laid to rest there in 1890) and Juliusz Słowacki (1927).

Notable burials

Monarchs Saints
  • Stanislaus the Martyr
  • Jadwiga
Others

Gallery

See also

  • Poznań Cathedral
  • Gniezno Cathedral
  • Sigismund Bell
  • St. John's Cathedral, Warsaw
  • List of Gothic Cathedrals in Europe

Notes

References

  1. .
  2. ^ "Wawel". www.integracja.org (in Polish). Retrieved 2010-09-11.
  3. .
  4. ^ a b CODART, an international network of curators of art from the Low Countries, "The CODART List - Study trip to Gdańsk, Warsaw and Kraków (18-25 April 2004) - Museums with Dutch art and Flemish art". Archived from the original on 2005-12-02. Retrieved 2007-12-23. Accessed 2007-12-23
  5. ^ Marek Strzala. "Royal tombs" (in Polish). Krakow-info.com. Retrieved 2010-09-11.

External links

Media related to Wawel Cathedral at Wikimedia Commons