Churches of Krakow

Krakow's Churches 

Krakow’s abundance of magnificent churches together with the plentitude of its monasteries and convents earned the city a reputation of “the Northern Rome” in the past. They have remained the centers of spiritual life till now, attended throughout the week and crowded on Sundays. As the number of Krakow churches increases by the year nowadays, visitors take interest mostly in the old temples. Some of them seem noteworthy as architectural achievements, some are just picturesque. The old Krakow churches often shelter unique objects prized for their artistic or historical value. 

Watch online videos of Krakow churches and holy shrines

Wawel Cathedral on the Wawel Hill
Poland's impressive national shrine dates from the 14th century and shelters plenty of superb church art. The Sigismund Chapel is a masterpiece of the Renaissance art and architecture. Giant Zygmunt bell of 1520 ranks with the world's largest. Most Polish kings are buried here together with the greatest national heroes.

Basilica of the Virgin Mary's at the Grand Square
Immense Gothic church, the city of Krakow's principal temple since the 13th century, boasts the world's greatest Gothic sculpture among its many excellent works of art. Huge stained-glass widows of the chancel date from the 14th century.

Basilica of St. Francis’
Franciszkanska street (Old Town, opposite the Archbishop Palace)
Stately Romanesque, built 1237-1269. ! Masterpiece stain-glass windows by Krakow genius artist and playwright Stanislaw Wyspianski from the turn of the 20th century, notably “The Creation” above the church entrance. Stunning floral decor by the same artist. Adjoining Franciscan monastery. ! 15th-century admirable cloister with the 15th and 16th-century fine frescoes.

Basilica of the Holy Trinity’s
12 Stolarska street (Old Town, at Dominikanski Pl.)
13th-century imposing Gothic. Fine 15th-century portal. Upstairs ornate Baroque chapel-mausoleum of St. Jacek (St. Hyacinthus) in his former cell. 17th-century chapel with the miraculous painting of the Rosary Mother of God. Many chapels of Krakow aristocracy. ! 14th-century grand cloister of the adjoining Dominican monastery.

Church of St. Adalbert’s
Grand Square (Old Town)
Now modest Baroque, yet the church dates back to the 10th c., which shows. Archeological reserve and an exhibition about the history of Krakow’s Grand Square in the basement /outdoor entrance/.

Church of St. Andrew’s
56 Grodzka street (Old Town, by the Royal Road)
11th-century splendid Romanesque architecture, Baroque interior of the 17th c. Adjoins Poor Clares’ convent. Adjacent the spectacular Baroque church of St. St. Peter and Paul’s.

Church of St. Anna’s
11 Sw. Anny street (Old Town)
Admirable Baroque. University church built 1689-1705. Exquisite stucco decor. St. John Kanty’s mausoleum in the right transept.

Church of St. Barbara’s
Mariacki Pl. (Old Town, by the basilica of the Virgin Mary’s)
14th-century Gothic structure with Baroque interior. Open outer chapel by the entrance with valuable stone statues from the end of the 15th c.: Christ with three Apostles on the Mount of Olives.

Church of St. Bernard’s
2 Bernardynski Pl. (by the Wawel Hill)
17th-century Baroque. Rich interior with plentiful paintings. Noteworthy Gothic sculpture in the chapel of St. Anna’s. Adjoining Bernardine monastery.

Church of St. Casimir’s
4 Reformacka street (Old Town)
The 17th-century picturesque Baroque complex with the adjacent Franciscan monastery. Many 18th-century paintings. Church catacombs with more than 1000 mummified bodies from 1667 to 1841.

Church of St. Catherine’s
Skaleczna street (Kazimierz Town, next to the Skalka Shrine)
High Gothic of 1363. Fine Gothic porch with traceries, grand portal. Splendid 3-story Baroque altarpiece of 1634 in the chancel. 16th-century Renaissance mausoleum of a Krakow aristocrat in the south aisle. ! 14th-century monumental cloister of the adjoining monastery with many outstanding medieval and Renaissance frescoes.

Church of Corpus Christi
26 Bozego Ciala street (Kazimierz Town)
Mid-14th-century grand Gothic. Rich interior. The 1634 high altar. Superb stalls of 1629. Mid-18th-century pulpit in the form of a boat. Lucas Cranach’s Madonna of c. 1520 in an upper chapel. Adjacent monastery of 1405.

Church of St. Florian’s
1 Warszawska street (downtown)
Now Baroque. Originally built in 1184 as a mausoleum for the relics of St. Florian, the 3rd-century Roman soldier and martyr. The church was a starting point for royal funeral processions to the Wawel Cathedral. John Paul II, then Father Wojtylla, curate 1949-1951.

Church of the Holiest Savior’s
Bronislawy street
Scenic Romanesque, rebuilt 1670-1673, dates from the 12th c. Early 17th-century exterior chalice-shaped stone pulpit. Outstanding 16th-century late Renaissance interior pulpit with ornate sculptures. Archeological reserve in the basement.

Church of the Holy Cross
Sw. Ducha Pl. (Old Town)
Stylish Gothic of c. 1300. Fine palm ceiling supported by a single column. Bronze baptismal font of 1423. 16th-century Renaissance fresco decor. Ornate Baroque altarpieces.

Church of the Lord’s Transfiguration
2 Pijarska street (Old Town, end of Sw. Jana street)
Fine Baroque, built 1714-1727. Illusory ceiling fresco. 18th-century paintings.

Church of St. Mark’s
at the corner of Slawkowska and Marka streets (Old Town)
Picturesque Gothic of the early 14th c. with a late Renaissance interior. Miraculous Gothic crucifix in the altarpiece. Pulpit in the shape of a heart. The Passion exterior statues are modern copies of the c. 1500 originals transferred to museum.

Church of the Mother of God the Queen of Poland
Bienczyce precinct
Monumental modern, built 1967-1977 in the shape of a boat. 8-m-tall contemporary sculpture crucifix. In the tabernacle a lunar stone brought from the moon by American astronauts.

Church of St. Nicholas’
9 Kopernika street (downtown)
Now modest Baroque, Gothic parts. Outstanding 15th-century Gothic Krakow-school painted altarpiece in the south aisle. 14th-century tall medieval cemetery lantern of stone in the front yard.

Church of St. Norbert’s
11 Wislna street (Old Town)
Modest Baroque. Fine rococo altarpiece of mid 18th c. in the apse. Big Gothic crucifix of c. 1520.

Church of St. Peter and St. Paul’s
Grodzka street (Old Town, by the Royal Road)
17th-century grandest Baroque after Rome’s del Gesu. Ornate white stone facade with sculptures, mighty dome. Crypt with the sarcophagus of Father Skarga, famous 17th-century Jesuit preacher. Larger-than-life stone statues of 12 Apostles above the front fence are replicas of the 18th-century late Baroque originals moved to the side yard.

Church of St. Theresa’s
44 Kopernika street (downtown)
Good 18th-century Baroque. 14th-century Gothic statue of the Madonna. 16th-century paintings. Marble column of 1668 at the front yard. Adjacent Carmelite convent.

Church of the Virgin Mary’s Annunciation
19 Karmelicka street (close to the Old Town)
Now 17th-century stately Baroque, dates back to the 11th c. Italian-Baroque interior of c. 1675. Miraculous Our Lady of Piasek, the 15th-century fresco allegedly with features of Poland’s Queen-Saint Jadwiga, in the east chapel. Adjacent Carmelite monastery.

Tyniec Abbey
Hilltop monastery-fortress dates from the 11th c.

Bielany Monastery
Magnificent 17th-century Baroque hermitage complex atop the Silver Mountain hovers over Krakow.

St. Norbert's Convent
Vast fortified complex on the Vistula river is home to Krakow’s once powerful Premonstratensian Sisters since the 12th century.

Cistercian Abbey of Mogila
Founded in 1225, the Mogila Abbey is one of Krakow's most interesting monasteries. 

Sanctuary of the Lord's Mercy
Humble nun’s visions in the 1930s gave rise to a world-wide spiritual movement inside the Catholic Church, ever stronger nowadays, with the center in her Krakow convent.

Czestochowa
Jasna Gora Sanctuary in Czestochowa is the holiest place of Poland and one of the world’s most important destinations for pilgrims.

Kalwaria Zebrzydowska
With its 42 Baroque churches and chapels of all shapes and sizes in addition to the central basilica and the Franciscan monastery, the Kalwaria Zebrzydowska sanctuary is Europe's biggest Calvary shrine.

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