Wawel Cathedral
Encyclopedia
The Wawel Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Stanisław and Vaclav, is a church located on Wawel Hill
in Kraków
–Poland
's national sanctuary. It has a 1,000-year history and was the traditional coronation site of Polish monarchs. It is the Cathedral
of the Archdiocese of Kraków. Pope John Paul II
offered his first Mass as a priest in the Crypt of the Cathedral on 2 November 1946.
The current, Gothic
cathedral, is the third edifice on this site: the first was constructed and destroyed in the 11th century; the second one, constructed in the 12th century, was destroyed by a fire in 1305. The construction of the current one begun in the 14th century on the orders of bishop Nanker
.
with aisle
s, transept
s 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. Over the main altar stands a tall canopy of black marble
supported by four pillar
s, designed by Giovanni Battista Trevano
and Matteo Castelli between 1626 and 1629. Underneath the canopy is placed a silver
coffin of St. Stanisław
created between 1669-1671 after the previous one (donated in 1512 by King Sigismund the Old) was stolen by the Swedes in 1655.
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.
Sigismund's Chapel, or Zygmunt Chapel ("Kaplica Zygmuntowska"), 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
." Financed by King Sigismund I the Old
, it was built in 1517-33 by Bartolommeo Berrecci
, a Florentine Renaissance architect, who spent most of his career in Poland.
A square-based chapel with a golden dome houses the tombs of its founder as well as of his children, King Sigismund II Augustus
and Anna Jagiellonka.
kings, national hero
es, generals and revolutionaries, including rulers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
such as Jan III Sobieski and his consort Maria Kazimiera, the remains of Tadeusz Kościuszko
– a leader of a Polish national insurrection and Brigadier General in the American Revolutionary War
; the national bards: Adam Mickiewicz
(laid to rest there in 1890) and Juliusz Słowacki (1927), as well as Władysław Sikorski – Prime Minister of the Polish Government in Exile
and Commander-in-Chief
of the Polish Armed Forces
, along with Marshal Józef Piłsudski – founder of the Second Polish Republic
. Pope John Paul II considered being buried there 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.)
Wawel Hill
Wawel Hill is the name of a Jurassic limestone outcrop formed about 150 million years ago. It is situated on the left bank of the Vistula River in Kraków, Poland, at an altitude of 228 metres above the sea level. Over the millennia, the hill provided a safe haven for people who settled there since...
in Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
–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 national sanctuary. It has a 1,000-year history and was the traditional coronation site of Polish monarchs. It is the Cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
of the Archdiocese of Kraków. Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
offered his first Mass as a priest in the Crypt of the Cathedral on 2 November 1946.
The current, Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
cathedral, is the third edifice on this site: the first was constructed and destroyed in the 11th century; the second one, constructed in the 12th century, was destroyed by a fire in 1305. The construction of the current one begun in the 14th century on the orders of bishop Nanker
Nanker
Nanker , born Jan Kołda, was a Polish noble of Oksza coat of arms, bishop of Kraków and bishop of Wrocław ....
.
Interior
The Cathedral comprises a naveNave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
with aisle
Aisle
An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of seats on both sides or with rows of seats on one side and a wall on the other...
s, transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
s with aisles, a choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
with double aisles, and an apse
Apse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
with ambulatory
Ambulatory
The ambulatory is the covered passage around a cloister. The term is sometimes applied to the procession way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar....
and radiating chapels.
The main altar, located in the apse, was founded about 1650 by Bishop Piotr Gembicki
Piotr Gembicki
Piotr Gembicki , Deputy Crown Chancellor and Bishop of Przemyśl from 1635, Great Crown Chancellor from 1638, Bishop of Kraków from 1642 in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.-Biography:...
and created by Giovanni Battista Gisleni
Giovanni Battista Gisleni
Giovanni Battista Gisleni was an Italian Baroque architect, stage designer, theater director, singer, and musician at the court of three Polish kings of the Vasa dynasty: Zygmunt III Waza, Władysław IV Waza and Jan II Kazimierz in the years 1630-1668...
. The altar painting of Crucified Christ by Marcin Blechowski is from the 17th century. Over the main altar stands a tall canopy of black 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...
supported by four pillar
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s, designed by Giovanni Battista Trevano
Giovanni Battista Trevano
Giovanni Battista Trevano was an Italian architect from Lombardy who worked in Poland as royal architect for King Sigismund III Vasa, of the Swedish dynasty of Vasa, who was ruling Poland at the time....
and Matteo Castelli between 1626 and 1629. Underneath the canopy is placed 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...
coffin of St. Stanisław
Stanislaus of Szczepanów
Stanislaus of Szczepanów, or Stanisław Szczepanowski, was a Bishop of Kraków known chiefly for having been martyred by the Polish king Bolesław II the Bold...
created between 1669-1671 after the previous one (donated in 1512 by King Sigismund the Old) was stolen by the Swedes in 1655.
Chapels and burial chambers
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.
Sigismund's Chapel, or Zygmunt Chapel ("Kaplica Zygmuntowska"), 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
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
architecture outside Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
." Financed by King Sigismund I the Old
Sigismund I the Old
Sigismund I of Poland , of the Jagiellon dynasty, reigned as King of Poland and also as the Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 until 1548...
, it was built in 1517-33 by Bartolommeo Berrecci
Bartolommeo Berrecci
Bartolommeo Berrecci was a Florentine renaissance architect, who spent most of his career in Poland.He learned architecture in Florence, probably taught by Andrea Ferrucci...
, a Florentine Renaissance architect, who spent most of his career in Poland.
A square-based chapel with a golden dome houses the tombs of its founder as well as of his children, King Sigismund II Augustus
Sigismund II Augustus
Sigismund II Augustus I was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the only son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548...
and Anna Jagiellonka.
Burials
The crypt beneath the Wawel Cathedral holds the tombs of PolishPoland
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...
kings, national hero
Hero
A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, their cult being one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion...
es, generals and revolutionaries, including rulers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
such as Jan III Sobieski and his consort Maria Kazimiera, the remains of Tadeusz Kościuszko
Tadeusz Kosciuszko
Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko was a Polish–Lithuanian and American general and military leader during the Kościuszko Uprising. He is a national hero of Poland, Lithuania, the United States and Belarus...
– a leader of a Polish national insurrection and Brigadier General in the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
; the national bards: Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Bernard Mickiewicz ) was a Polish poet, publisher and political writer of the Romantic period. One of the primary representatives of the Polish Romanticism era, a national poet of Poland, he is seen as one of Poland's Three Bards and the greatest poet in all of Polish literature...
(laid to rest there in 1890) and Juliusz Słowacki (1927), as well as Władysław Sikorski – Prime Minister of the Polish Government in Exile
Polish government in Exile
The Polish government-in-exile, formally known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in Exile , was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Poland of September 1939, and the subsequent occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, which...
and Commander-in-Chief
Commander-in-Chief
A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
of the Polish Armed Forces
Polish Armed Forces
Siły Zbrojne Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej are the national defense forces of Poland...
, along with Marshal Józef Piłsudski – founder of the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
. Pope John Paul II considered being buried there 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.)
| Polish kings | Polish saints | |
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Jadwiga of Poland Jadwiga was monarch of Poland from 1384 to her death. Her official title was 'king' rather than 'queen', reflecting that she was a sovereign in her own right and not merely a royal consort. She was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou, the daughter of King Louis I of Hungary and Elizabeth of...
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See also
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Gniezno Cathedral Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Adalbert is a Gothic cathedral in Gniezno, Poland. The Cathedral is known for its twelfth-century , two-winged bronze doors decorated with scenes of martyrdom of St. Wojciech and a silver relic coffin of that saint... 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... Hedwig glass Hedwig glasses or Hedwig beakers are a type of glass beaker originating in the Middle East or Norman Sicily and dating from the 10th-12th centuries AD. They are named after the Silesian princess Saint Hedwig , to whom three of them are traditionally said to have belonged. So far, a total of 14... |