The Knights Hospitaller (also called the Knights of Malta) were brought to Poznań by Duke Mieszko the Old. At the turn of the 12th and 13th c.) they built a commandry and a church dedicated to St. John the Baptist, or St. John of Jerusalem as he came to be called when the knights founded a hospital in Jerusalem. "Beyond the walls" is a reference to the location of the church in relation to the medieval stronghold. It is Poznań's second oldest shrine (after the cathedral) and one of the first examples of brickwork masonry in Poland. The groin vault in the presbytery is from the 13th c. The church was rebuilt in the Late Gothic style at the turn of the 15th and 16th c. The sacristy (with crow-stepped gables), the north aisle and the chunky campanile were added at the same time and the main structure received stellar vaulting. The Baroque Chapel of the Holy Cross from 1736 topped by a dome with a lantern adjoins the church on the south. Polychrome decoration from 1948 is the work of Stanisław Teisseyre. A Gothic triptych from the early 16th c. depicting St. Mary engaged in conversation with St. John the Baptist and St. Stanislaus in the central panel. Worthy of notice is the Late Gothic stone baptismal font from 1522. Adjoining the south Wall is the Chapel of the Holy Cross founded by commander Michał Stanisław Dąbrowski and protected by a Gothic grille from the 15th c. The miracle-working crucifix from the mid-seventeenth century in the Late Baroque main altar (1737), covered by the painting of the Sacred Heart. Knight commanders are buried in the vaults, among others Michał Stanisław Dąbrowski (d. 1740) and Andrzej Marcin Miaskowski (d. 1832).
Cathedral of St. Peter and St.
Having established the first archbishopric (968) near the ducal palatium and the rotunda founded in 965 on the island of Ostrów Tumski, Mieszko I built a pre-Romanesque three-aisled basilica. The shrine was damaged in the years 1038-39 and rebuilt in the following years (until 1058) in the Romanesque style. In the 13th c. an early Gothic presbytery was erected and in the mid-fourteenth century a new Gothic nave was built. The reconstruction of the church in the Gothic style continued in the 14th and 15th century, during which a new presbytery with a chevet and a row of chapels was added. In the 17th c. the church was extensively rebuilt in the Baroque style (most probably by Krzysztof Bonadura the Old, and later in accordance with a design by Pompeo and Antoni Ferrari). The church was damaged in a fire in 1772 and given a Baroque interior that survived until 1945. The façade was rebuilt in 1779 (to a design by Efraim Schroeger) and the old cupolas were replaced in 1790 (designed by Bonawentura Solari). The cathedral was badly damaged during the battle of Poznań in 1945. Reconstruction work was carried out in the years 1948-56 to a design by Franciszek Morawski who restored the Gothic form of the shrine from the 14th and 15th c. and the original appearance of the cupola from the years 1725-29.
The main entrance to the cathedra is in the front façade through the Gothic portals from the 15th c. and a bronze door (a design by Kazimierz Bieńkowski, 1979) decorated with the scenes from the life of St. Peter and St. Paul. A high Gothic window with a rosette above the portals surmounted by crow-stepped gables and blind windows; Romanesque face of a stone wall in the lower part of the south tower. It is a basilica with a chevet and two aisles adjoined by 12 chapels, 2 sacristies and a narthex. The presbytery and the ambulatory are covered with a groin vault, whereas the nave and the aisles are covered with a stellar vault.
Artefacts from Lower Silesia in the presbytery. A Late Gothic altarpiece in the middle - poliptych from 1512 with the sculptures of Mary with the Infant, St. Barbara and St. Catherine in the centre; outer wings with four panels featuring sculptures of 12 saintly women, painted scenes of the Passion and saints on the opposite side. Late Gothic stalls from the 16th c., a Flemish tapestry from the 17th c., five Late Gothic sculptures from the 18th c., a Late Gothic pulpit and a baptismal font from 1720 in the presbytery, an altar from 1971 designed by Józef Stasiński and decorated with bas-reliefs depicting the twelve apostles in the front.
The bronze plate in the floor in front of the presbytery commemorates the first bishop Jordan and 7 rulers buried in the cathedral. The nave ends in an organ loft under which there are sixteenth-century tombstones of Jan Przecławski, Janusz Przecławski and his wife Anna from Sady and Piotr Przecławski's epitaph.
There are many valuable artworks in the aisles, along the ambulatory and in the chapels, most of which are in the Baroque style. The aisles feature Teodoryk Pradel's Gothic tombstone (d. 1383), 5 Gothic and Renaissance tombstones from the 14th and 15th from the Vischer's workshop in Munich (stolen by the Germans during the war and returned by the Russians in 1990), a tomb of Bishop Benedykt Izdbieński, a work by Polish Renaissance sculptor Jan Michałowicz of Urzędów. The chapels boast an impressive Renaissance tomb of the Górka family from 1574 (the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament), and St. Martin's Entry to Amiens, a painting by Krzysztof Boguszewski from 1628 (St. Martin's Chapel).
Two chapels are of special prominence: the Golden Chapel (the Chapel of Polish Sovereigns) and St. Stanislaus's Chapel, also called the Royal Chapel. The first is modelled on Byzantine architecture and features a tomb from 1840 with the mortal remains of Mieszko I and Bolesław the Brave and a monument to both rulers, the work of Christian Rauch from 1841. The Royal Chapel could once boast the tomb of King Przemysł II but presently it features an impressive epitaph honouring the sovereign (a work by Marian Konieczny from 1995). In the vaults there are remains of the Early Romanesque and Romanesque cathedrals discovered in the years 1946 and 1951-56 and the alleged graves of Mieszko I and Bolesław the Brave. Below the west part of the presbytery there is a collection of stone tombstones and epitaphs and the burial vault of local archbishops and suffragans built in 1963.
Poznań Collegiate Church
Poznań Collegiate Church, one of the most impressive Baroque sacral edifices in Poland, was built in the years 1651-1701 (and completed around 1750) by eminent architects (Tomasz Poncino, Jan Catenazzi and Reverend Bartłomiej Nataniel), painters and stucco-workers (Karol Dankwart, Szymon Czechowicz, Alberto Bianco and Jan Weydlich. The present painting decoration is the work of Stanisław Wróblewski from the years 1948-49. Since 1978 it has been the Collegiate church and the main temple of St. Mary Magdalene's Parish; it also functioned as procathedral in the years 1945-46 when the cathedral on the island of Ostrów Tumski was closed for renovation.
It is a Baroque edifice (with an imposing façade and Late Baroque portals from around 1750) featuring the nave with the transept flanked by two aisles surmounted by inner galleries, covered with a barrel vault with lunettes and lavishly decorated. The aisles are separated from the nave by arched arcades supported by huge columns made from artificial marble. Worthy of notice is the trompe-l'œil dome in the crossing depicting St. Stanislaus the Bishop being welcomed to heaven.
A huge altarpiece in the presbytery designed by Pompeo Ferrari in the years 1727-32 with the painting St. Stanislaus Resurrecting Piotrowin, the work of Szymon Czechowicz from 1756, flanked by the figures of St. Stanislaus the Bishop and St. Stanislaus Kostka. A pulpit from 1964 and a Rococo baptismal font from the mid-eighteenth century in the transept. The presbytery is flanked by two chapels from 1743; on the left the Chapel of the Holy Cross with the Late Gothic crucifix from the first half of the 16th c. and the painting of Christ as the Man of Sorrows from the early 17th c.; to the right the Chapel of Our Lady of Perpetual Help featuring the miraculous painting of Our Lady (from 1952) crowned with papal crowns in 1961. Next to it is the Chapel of Perpetual Adoration built in 1937 and on the opposite side near the entrance to the sacristy a Late Gothic stoup from the 16th c.
Two large altarpieces from 1735 in the transept. In the altarpiece on the left the paintings St. Ignatius at Loyola Castle (mid-18th c.), St. Valentine Among the Sick (17th/18th c.) and Heavenly Mother with the Infant (19th c.). In the altar on the right the paintings St. Stanislaus Kostka's Communion from 1756 (a work by Szymon Czechowicz) and St. Barbara from 1748 (a work by Wacław Graff).
The groin vault aisles are split into chapels with altarpieces designed in the first half of the 18th c. by Franciszek Koźmiński and decorated by Jan Weydlich. Worthy of notion is the late Gothic sculpture of Christ as the Man of Sorrows from around 1430 in the Chapel of Japanese Martyrs in the east aisle and the painting of Heavenly Mother with the Infant (17th/18th c.) in a silver dress and a gilded crown in the Chapel of St. Francis Borgia in the west aisle. Several richly decorated galleries above the aisles. The loft above the nave features a remarkably valuable pipe organ made by the famous German organ builder Friedrich Ladegast of Weissenfels in Saxony. Below the organ loft two plaques of Poznań Jesuits: commemorating Rev. Józef Rogaliński (1728-1802, mathematician, physicist and astronomer) mounted in 1902 and Rev. Jakub Wujek (1541-1597), the author of the first translation of the Bible into the Polish language (mounted in 1996).
Spacious barrel vault crypts under the church where monks, benefactors and parishioners (in the years 1798-1910) were buried. Excavations carried out in the 1990 revealed a fragment of medieval walls.
Church of St. Anthony of Padua
The conventuals (black friars) settled in Poznań in the 17th c. The church was commissioned from Jan Koński and built atop Castle Hill (presently Przemysł Hill) in the years 1674-1757. The monastery was erected in the years 1672-1749 east of the church but it was partly dismantled after the suppression of the order in 1834; only the north part survived to the present day. In the 19th c. the church was given to German Catholics by the Prussian authorities. The black friars returned in 1921. Heavily damaged in the war, the church was renovated in 1945.
It is a basilica with the nave flanked by two aisles that stop at two chapels; there is also a chapel in the west aisle and a gallery over three bays in both aisles. The presbytery and the nave are covered with a barrel vault with lunettes, the aisles are groin vaulted whereas the chapel adjoining the west aisle is sail vaulted. Both chapels at the end of the aisles have domes with lanterns. The church is lavishly decorated with stucco-work and the polychrome decoration from around 1702 is the work of the Franciscan monk Adam Swach; it depicts scenes from the life of St. Anthony (in the presbytery and the nave), St. Francis (in the west aisle) and the Blessed Virgin Mary (in the east aisle). The high altar (c. 1690, a work by Antoni Swach, Adam's brother) features Adam Swach's painting Vision of St. Anthony in the central panel and a painting of the Virgin Mary of Immaculate Conception (copy of B.E. Murillo's work from 1877) at the top. Chiselled stalls from the early 18th c. decorated with intarsia and figures of Franciscan saints. Above the stalls two epitaphs of Florian and Wojciech Zdzychowski from 1754, wrongly attributed in the 20th c. to Jan Radoliński (d.1761) and Jan Łącki (d.1694).
The nave is adjoined by two square chapels covered with domes and topped by lanterns. The Chapel of Mother of God was built in 1681 and it features the miraculous painting of Mother of God, Our Lady of Poznań. It is a copy of the miraculous painting from the Sanctuary of Our Mother of Consolation from Borek - Zdzież. According to tradition, the painting belonged to the Franciscan friar Tomasz Dybowski before it was mounted in the chapel. In 1670 it was temporarily placed in the high altar. When an altarpiece was built in the chapel in the years 1688-93 (the work of Antoni and Adam Swach), the painting of Mary with the Infant was placed in the central panel in 1713. It features a silver frame from the years 1676-1718 and was crowned in 1968. When the covering of the painting is lowered, images of St. Joseph, St. John the Evangelist flanked by St. Francis and St. Anthony come to sight. Paintings of St. Anne and St. Joachim in the side panels, figures of angels and St. Michael the Archangel at the top and images of the guardian Wojciech Zawadzki and the friar Tomasz Dybowski at the bottom. The dome is lavishly decorated with stuccowork from Alberto Bianco's workshop from 1701 and features sculptures of Christ and the Apostles and four medallions depicting saintly women on the vault.
Lying opposite is the Chapel of St. Francis of Assisi built in 1757 and richly decorated with stuccowork. The Rococo altar from 1757 features Adam Swach's painting St. Francis Receiving the Porziuncola Indulgence in the central panel, a bas-relief The Discovery of St. Francis's Grave at the top surmounted by a sculpture of St. Francis. Sculptures of Franciscan saints at the base of the dome, the vault is decorated with medallions featuring saintly men and women.
A pulpit from 1732-33 in the nave and the Baroque tomb of Wojciech Rydzyński (d. 1733) and his wife Anna nee Proska (d. 1736). The nave ends in an organ loft supported by columns and arcades.
In the arcades separating the aisles from the nave six Late Baroque altars from 1755 and two Baroque epitaphs from the 18th c. commemorating Katarzyna Skrzetuska nee Smoszewska (d. 1701) and Dorota Kołaczkowska nee Rogalińska (d. 1719). The west aisle is adjoined by the Chapel of the Most Precious Heart of Jesus from the years 1757-58, rebuilt to a design by Lucjan Michałowski in the early 20th c. The Neo-Baroque decoration is from the years 1928-29.
Church of Corpus Christi
The church was built on the site where hosts, stolen and profaned in 1399, were found. The event, known under the name of the miracle of Corpus Christi since 1403, was commemorated by the building of a wooden chapel (probably in 1399). King Władysław Jagiełło funded a church and a monastery for the discalced Carmelites. The construction was completed at the turn of the 15th and 16th c. The building was in the form of a hall church. A chapel was added to the north wall in 1570, rebuilt by Pompeo Ferrari in 1726 (the Chapel of St. Mary of the Scapular). Destroyed in the Swedish Deluge, it was reconstructed in 1664 and the vault over the nave and the gables received some Baroque modifications. The tower and the sacristy were added at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. After the dissolution of the order in 1823 the church fell into disrepair but survived thanks to the restoration in 1856 carried out by the Reformati who owned it for a short period of time (1855-75). It has been a parish church since 1899.
It is a church in a mixture of Gothic and Baroque styles with a nave flanked by two aisles and a square tower at the end of the north aisle. The entrance to the church is through the Gothic portals lined with glazed bricks. Pointed arch stained glass windows with Biblical scenes and figures of saints. Groin vaulting in the presbytery, barrel vaulting with lunettes over the nave (decorated with Baroque murals from the second half of the 17th c.), stellar vaulting from the 15th c. over the aisles.
High altar from around 1740; painting of the Last Supper in the central panel, figure of God the Father at the top, sculptures of Aaron, Moses, St. Telesphorus and St. Gregory the Great at the sides. Portraits of Władysław Jagiełło and his wife Jadwiga (from around 1665) on the side walls of the presbytery. Four coffin portraits and 15 coat of arms of Wielkopolskan noble families from the 17th c. at the end of the presbytery.
Adjoining the presbytery is the Chapel of St. Mary of the Scapular, rebuilt in around 1726 with Late Baroque polychrome decoration uncovered in 1958. Three Late Baroque altarpieces in the chapel: painting of St. Mary of the Scapular in silver dresses from the 18th c. in the main altar from 1726, painting of St. Therese de Lisieux in the left altar (from 1725) and in the right altar from around 1746 an eighteenth-century painting Vision of St. Andrew Corsini (considered patron saint of Poznań by the order). Organ loft with a baluster and openwork lattice.
An eclectic pulpit from 1950 at the crossing of the nave and the presbytery. Once there was a water well in the centre of the nave where, according to tradition, profaned communion wafers were thrown. Under the Neo-Baroque table top of the altar there is an eighteenth-century sculpture that depicts the Jews throwing the hosts into the water well. The nave is closed by a Baroque organ loft from the years 1656-64 embellished with the image of Mother of God and eight saint Carmelite nuns.
The Chapel of the Holy Cross from the half of the 18th c. with a sculpture depicting the Crucifixion of Jesus in the ground floor of the tower (at the end of the north aisle).
Three altars in the aisles featuring paintings of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and St. Stanislaus Kostka, Pilgrim at the Feet of Christ (by Piotr Stachowicz), St. Therese de Lisieux and Vision of St. Anthony of Padua. Ornate confessionals from the years 1730-40 decorated with rich carving. Worthy of notice is the Gothic keystone from the 15th c. decorated with the coat of arms of the Angevin dynasty (discovered in 2001) and three plaques showing water level during the great floods of 1698, 1736 and 1888.
The Gothic monstrance from around 1400 kept in the vault is one of the most precious Polish goldsmith artefacts. A gift from King Jagiełło, it is decorated with the coat of arms of the Crown (the Eagle) and Lithuania (Pahonia) and for centuries contained the three miraculous hosts. It is considered the oldest sacral vessel in Poland.
Adjoining the Chapel of St. Mary of the Scapular on the outside is an arcaded loggia featuring a collection of tombstones. Standing on the north side of the church on a high pedestal is a Late Baroque sculpture of the prophet Elijah wielding a blazing sword (2nd half of the 18th c.) and a Baroque gate from the early 18th c., designed by Jan Catenazzi and called the Blue Gate. The square buildings of the monastery adjoin the northwest side of the church.
Church of St. Francis of Assis
The Observant branch of the friars minor built a wooden chapel and a monastery in 1456. Since Bernardino of Siena was one of the chief propagators of the branch, the friars came to be called Bernardine monks in Poland. A new Gothic church and monastery were built in the years 1471-73 but the buildings were burnt down by the Swedish in 1655. A new church dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi was erected in the years 1661-68 (by Krzysztof Bonadura the Older and Jerzy Catenazzi). In the years 1730-38 the façade was reconstructed and two cupolas were added to the church towers (a design by Jan Adam Stier of Leszno). The figures of Franciscan saints placed in the recesses of the façade (a work of Franciszek Domusberger of Wschowa) were made in the same period. The Chapel of St. Mary from Loreto was built south of the nave sometime after 1742. The buildings of the monastery from the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries adjoined the north wall of the church. New edifices were erected in 1988 and replaced the Chapel of St. Anne dismantled in 1843. After the dissolution of the order in 1835, the shrine functioned as St. Martin's parish church and since 1843 the buildings have housed St. Mary Magdalene Grammar School. Destroyed in the Second World War, the church underwent major renovation before 1988. A parish church since 1974.
It is a Baroque church with a long presbytery whose roof are lower than that of the nave and with the Chapel of Saint Mary from Loreto to the south. From the narrow narthex between the towers stairs lead up to the nave and down to the Chapel of the Holy Cross. Barrel vaulting with lunettes in the presbytery, barrel vaulting over the nave, and sail vaulting in the narthex. Arcaded passageways under the pillars along the walls. A peculiar feature of the church is the floor located high above the ground due to the burial vault placed beneath.
The interior of the church, damaged in the war, has been painstakingly reconstructed. The painting in the main altar (made after 1950) titled God's Wrath is a copy of Paul Rubens's work by Józef Pade (1950). Figure of God the Father in a ring of light at the top, on both side Baroque sculptures of John the Evangelist and St. Joseph with the Infant, in front of the altar figures of saints: Bonaventure, Bernardino of Siena, Augustine and Ambrose (Augustyn Schöps, 1778-79). Stalls along the walls of the presbytery reconstructed in the years 1950-60 embellished with the scenes from the life of St. Francis of Assisi. A pulpit by the column to the left with a sculpture of Christ at the top; opposite it a symbolic tombstone of St. Mary with the rendition of the Assumption above (1954). In the side altars from the years 1988-89 paintings of St. Joseph with Jesus and St. Anne with St. Mary (left altar) and St. Anthony of Padua and blessed John Duns Scotus (right altar). The Baroque Chapel of Saint Mary from Loreto adjoins the nave from the south and is separated from it by an Early Baroque lattice from around 1650.
The nave extends to the organ loft in the west supported by an arcade embellished with the sculptures of St. John Capistrano and St. Francis of Assisi. Neo-Baroque organ pipes (19th c.) transferred from an evangelic church in 1952. The stairs from the narthex lead down the Chapel of the Holy Cross from 1950 with a Late Baroque crucifix from the mid-eighteenth century. A sculpture of St. Francis of Assisi and a broken church bell from the 18th c. in the square between the church and the north wing of the monastery. The monastery houses a province of the Friars Minor established in 1991, an ethnography and mission museum and a library. The church boasts the largest nativity scene in Poznań at Christmas time.
St. Josephs Church
Built in the years 1644-78 (to a design by Krzysztof Bonadura the Older and Jerzy Catenazzi). After the suppression of the monastery by the Prussians it was used by the military. Rebuilt inside after 1840 to a design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, it was converted into the garrison evangelic church and functioned as the garrison Roman Catholic church when Poland regained independence. Renovated in 1945 by the Discalced Carmelites who took over the church and the monastery.
A Baroque shrine with a nave and two aisles and an imposing front façade. Barrel vaulting with lunettes in the nave and the presbytery, sail vaulting in the bays, barrel vaulting in the transept. The interior is from the years 1984-88. Painting of St. Joseph with the Infant in the central panel of the main altar; two chapels flank the presbytery which are separated from the nave by arcades. Paintings by Albert Tschautsch from 1878 in the transept: Homage of the Shepherds and Jesus Falls under the Weight of the Cross. The pulpit in the nave consists of Baroque parts from the churches in Obrzycko and Maciejowa near Jelenia Góra.
In the narthex: part of the tombstone of one of the main benefactors of the monastery, Wojciech Konarzewski (d. 1668), with a marble inscription plate and the effigy of the deceased in armour, and a plague from 1989 commemorating Mikołaj Skrzetuski (1610-73), the prototype of Jan Skrzetuski from Henryk Sienkiewicz's novel With Fire and Sword, buried in the vaults. Hermitage of St. Rafał Konarowski in the cellars. A monument to St. Rafał Konarowski was unveiled in the early 1990s in front of the church.
The construction of the monastery was completed in the mid-eighteenth century. Restoration after war damage continued until 1966.
Church of St. Margaret
There was a shrine in Śródka before 1231 but the present church is from the 14th c. The Chapel of St. Barbara adjoining the church is from the 14th c., vaulting is from 16th c. and the tower (main portals from the 16th c., two portal arcades from the 15th c. and the bell from 1674) was erected even later. It replaced the narthex and obscured the imposing crow-stepped gable. The Chapel of St. Philip Neri along the south wall was built in around 1625. The church burnt down during the Swedish Deluge. Rebuilt in 1658, it lost its medieval character. It was used by the Oratorians in the years 1671-1805.
The single-nave church has Late Gothic stellar vaulting and interior with some Baroque elements added in the 18th c. The altar in the centre of the presbytery features an image depicting Mother of Jesus composed of a silver dress from the late 17th c. (removed from a painting on the side wall of the presbytery) and a face and hands that were actually painted. It is covered by a rendition of the Assumption from the early 18th c. A painting of Saint Mary with the Infant surrounded by a golden mandorla and standing on a crescent from the early 17th c. on the side wall of the presbytery, much venerated in the past. Two side altars from the 18th/19th c. in the nave and a pulpit and a baptismal font (with the scene of the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan) from the 18th c. A painting of Saint Mary with the Infant surrounded by angels playing instruments (ca. 1603) in the Chapel of St. Barbara. The main panel of the altar in the Chapel of St. Philip Neri features a bas-relief depicting the saint experiencing a vision and supported by an angel (18th c.). Organ loft and Neo-Gothic organ pipes from the second half of the 19th c. at the west end of the nave.
The church is surrounded by a low wall with a gateway and an inscription plate from 1786. Along the northwest side of the church stands the former oratory from the years 1746-77 supplemented with a new east wing in 1900.
St. Martins Church
The parish was founded before 1236 but the earliest mention of a shrine (most probably a wooden one) is from 1252. The construction of a brickwork church was commenced in the 14th c. The presbytery was built already in the 14th c. but the rest of the present structure with a nave and two aisles was not completed until the mid-sixteenth century. Burnt down by the soldiers of Brandenburg in 1657, it was rebuilt at the turn of the 17th and 18th c. with Baroque interior decoration. The original tower was dismantled in 1745 and a new one was erected in the years 1935-29. The church suffered severe damage in 1945 and was rebuilt in the Late Gothic style in the years 1949-54.
The stellar vaulted nave and aisles are embellished with polychrome decoration, painted on brick by Wacław Taranczewski in 1957. The stain glass windows depicting the scenes of the Passion and the event from the life of St. Martin are the work of Jan Piasecki (1959) whereas the stain glass windows in the aisles with the images of Polish rulers, saints and blesseds were made in the workshop of Maria Powalisz Bardońska (1978-93).
A Late Gothic triptych from 1498 with the sculptures of Saint Mary with the Infant in a mandorla, St. John the Baptist and St. Catherine of Alexandria in the central panel of the main altar; bas-reliefs on the obverse of the side panels. Baroque crucifix from the 18th c. in the right aisle, three Late Baroque altars from the 18th c. in the left aisle.
Pointed arch portals in the façade, sandstone bas-relief depicting St. Martin on the tympanum, a work by Edward Haupt from 1953. Arcaded frieze design on the north wall and a plaque beneath (mounted in 1986) commemorating Rev. Piotr Wawrzyniak (d. 1910), an outstanding social activist. A grotto (chapel) of Our Lady of Lourdes from 1911 (extended in 1932) northwest of the church featuring The Vision of St. Bernadette. In the arcade nearby a plaque commemorating the 15th anniversary of the Wielkopolska uprising.
A monument to Adam Mickiewicz, a work by Władysław Oleszczyński, unveiled in 1859 (in front of a wooden bell tower east of the church) was removed in 1940. What remains is a plain pedestal from 1957 and a fragment of a baluster from the early 20th c.
Church of the Most Sacred Hear
Wielkopolskan dukes Przemysł I and Bolesław the Pious founded the first Dominican church in St. Gotthard' s settlement in 1244. The church was rebuilt in the 15th c. and received the present appearance in the early 18th c. (Jan Catenazzi). It has a single nave with stellar vaulting and barrel vaulting and a barrel vaulted presbytery with lunettes; the Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary adjoins the church from the north. A tower bell from the 18th in the northwest corner. Remains of Early Gothic walls from the 13th c. with portals in the west façade disclosed in 1923. The vault with stuccowork decoration over the nave is from 18th c. Church furnishings are mostly Baroque (18th c.).
The main altarpiece from 1760 features a painting of Our Lady of the Rosary with St. Dominic (ca. 1760) covered by a painting of the Sacred Heart (a work by Adolf Hyła from 1963). Early Gothic portals from the 13th in the north wall of the presbytery. Carved backrests of mannerist stalls from the years 1620-30 with the scenes from the life of St. Dominic and St. Hyacinth.
Baroque pulpit from the years 1714-16 and Renaissance sandstone baptismal font from the early 16th c (partly damaged) in the nave. Six Baroque altarpieces from around 1760 in the four-bayed nave. Organ loft on the west with organ pipes from 1925.
Adjoining on the north is the Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary from the 15th c., most probably built on the site of St. Gotthard' Church, which has been a place for worship for centuries. The present appearance is from the years 1900-01. Stellar vaulting in the nave and the presbytery. Three plates by the entrance: two Late Renaissance sandstone plates from the 17th c. and a Gothic sepulchral plate from the Vischer's workshop in Munich. A Neo-Gothic pulpit on the side wall and a Neo-Gothic high altar with a bas-relief from 1901 depicting Our Lady of the Rosary with St. Dominic and St. Catherine of Siena in the presbytery. The bas-relief is covered by a miracle-working Late Baroque image of Our Lady with the Infant from 1631 adorned with a silver dress in 1648 and crowned in 1968.
Only two wings remain of the monastery buildings from the 14th c. (rebuilt in the 17th c.); they features stellar vaulted Gothic galleries. Remains of the wings dismantled in the 19th c. (in ul. Garbary) were disclosed in the years 1970-71.
Church of the Holy Saviour
Built in the years 1866-69 to a design by August Stüler and Julius Hochberger for the evangelic parish of St. Paul established in 1868. Roman-Catholic church since 1945, parish church since 1950. It is a Neo-Gothic edifice with a spire: a tondo with a sculpture of Christ's head above the main portals. Stellar vaulting in the nave and the presbytery, groin vaulting in the aisles. Wooden galleries are the remains of the original interior. A sculpture of the Passion from 2000 (a work by Lech Czuba) and a sandstone Neo-Gothic baptismal font (1867-69) in the presbytery, organ pipes from 1912 at the opposite end. Two altarpieces at the ends of the aisles: the altar of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the left and the altar of the Divine Mercy on the right embellished with paintings of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour and Saint Jude Thaddeus.
Church of the Most Precious Bl
Once a tenement in the cellar of which communion wafers were allegedly profaned in 1399 (the legend of the miracle of the three hosts). It was converted into a two-storey shrine by the Carmelites in the 17th c. (they used the original Gothic walls and the cellar with the water well). The present appearance is from the early 20th c. Fragments of Gothic walls can be seen on the façade and the Neo-Baroque portal from 1906 is surmounted by a Late Gothic sculpture of the Madonna with the Infant from the turn of the 15th and 16th c. removed from the dismantled house no. 100 in the Old Market Square
The shrine has a single nave, Baroque furnishings and groin vaulting. The altars are from 1733; worthy of notice is the high altar with the paintings of the Man of Sorrows and Jesus Christ Merciful (that can be hidden behind coverings) and rich carving on top ( God the Father among Angels ). A number of paintings from the 18th c (also in the side altars) depicting, among others, the Annunciation and St. Michael the Archangel. Of special prominence is the Late Gothic sculpture The Lamentation over the Dead Christ from the early 16th c. Organ loft with openwork baluster from the 18th c. and neo-classical pipe organ from the 19th c. along the west front. Polychrome decoration on the vault of the nave by the Franciscan friar Adam Swach from 1735 (the miracle of the hosts, Eucharist miracles and images of saints).
The Chapel in the vaults was rebuilt in the years 1914-16 to a design by Marian Andrzejewski. Sculptures of St. Adalbert, Stanislaus the Bishop, Kazimierz and Stanislaus Kostka over the water well where, as legend has it, the communion wafers were drowned. Water from the well is considered to have some miraculous qualities that can cure eye ailments.
Church of Saint Mary the Virgi
The Late Gothic church dedicated to Saint Mary the Virgin was built in the years 1431-47 "in summo" which means within the stronghold on the island of Ostrów Tumski and replaced Mieszko I's palatium and a chapel founded by his wife, Dąbrówka. The church was built by the local builder Hanusz Prus, the west gable by Jan Lorek of Kościan and the vaulting by the builder Mikołaj and his son from Poznań (in the years 1444-47).
The west gable is surmounted by a fleche and the walls are embellished with pointed arch blind windows and pinnacles. Side walls are divided by pilaster strips and feature pointed arch windows (bricked up on the north wall). The entrance to the shrine is through the pointed arch portals of profiled and glazed bricks (a similar portal on the north side has been bricked up). The stone in the plinth of the structure on the southeast side has notches left by swords being sharpened against it; it was believed that this act would develop some sort of supernatural power.
It is a hall church supported by hexagonal or octagonal columns and covered with stellar vaulting in the nave and the aisles and with sail vaulting in the presbytery and in the ambulatory. Polychrome decoration, stain glass windows (designed by Zygmunt Kosmicki) and the main altar from the years 1954-56 are the work of Wacław Taranczewski.
It is quite plausible that hidden beneath the presbytery are the remains of a rotunda where Dąbrówka, Mieszko I's wife, and Jordan, the first Polish bishop, were buried.
Church of the Blessed Virgin M
Originally a church and convent of the Dominican sisters built in the 1280s. The presbytery and the choir are from the 13th c., the nave was built in the 14th c.. In the 15th c. the east gable was remodelled and a chapel added on the north which was extended in the 16th c. to form an aisle. After the dissolution of the order by the Prussians in 1822 the church fell into disrepair. It was renovated by the Salesian Society in 1926 to the design by Kazimierz Ruciński (an organ loft was added and a Neo-Baroque façade designed by Professor Lucjan Michałowski).
It is a Gothic structure. The presbytery boasts rib vaulting from around 1440 (the only of its kind in Poznań); sail vaulting in the nave, stellar vaulting in the aisle. Church furnishings are from the years 1927-30 (designed by Lucjan Michałowski). A painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Christians, in the central panel of the Neo-Baroque altar from 1928; a painting of St. Catherine of Alexandria (a work by Antoni Ziętkiewicz) at the top of the altar. An eclectic altar with a sculpture of St. John Bosco and the Salesian coat of arms in the right corner of the nave. The portraits on the table top of the altar depict the blessed Oratorians ("the Poznań Five from Wroniecka Street"), Czesław Jóźwiak, Edward Kaźmierski, Franciszek Kęsa, Edward Klinik and Jarogniew Wojciechowski, boys engaged in underground activities during the war, murdered by the Germans and beatified by Pope John Paul II in Warsaw in 1999. Other interesting artefacts include: the pulpit, sculptures of St. Joseph, Dominic Savio and St. Anthony, the Neo-Baroque altar with a sculpture of the Sacred Heart in the aisle and the pipe organ from the years 1928-29. A plaque commemorating the blessed Oratorians in the narthex.
The west wing and a tower in the thirteenth-century fortification system are the only remains of the former buildings of the convent (14th-16th c.).
St. Adalberts Church
According to tradition, the church was built in the 13th on the site where St. Adalbert delivered the word of God. The present structure is from the 15th c., extended in the 16th and 17th c. When the tower was lowered in the 18th c., the bells were moved to the wooden campanile. Apart from the Church of Virgin Mary of Sorrows in Łazarz, it was the only church in Poznań the Poles had access to during the war. Damaged in the battle of Poznań in 1945, it was rebuilt after the war.
A Gothic church with a nave and two aisles and stellar vaulting. It boasts art nouveau polychrome decoration by Antoni Procajłowicz from the years 1911-13. The main altar made by Antoni Szulc in 1953 is modelled upon a medieval triptych; a Late Gothic bas-relief depicting the Assumption from the first half of the 16th c. in the central panel. Three side altars, two altars in the left aisle feature interesting paintings: Guardian Angels (Krzysztof Boguszewski, 1631) and The Lamentation over the Dead Christ (2nd half of the 16th c.). Two works by Marcin Rożek: the marble sarcophagus of Karol Marcinkowski from 1927 and the pulpit from 1925, made from artificial stone and decorated with busts of eminent Polish preachers. An imposing grille from the 17th c. and an altar with paintings showing St. Anthony and St. Anne with the Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus composed of 17th-century and 18th-century elements. Adorning the walls are the epitaphs of meritorious Wielkopolskans: Józef Wybicki, Andrzej Niegolewski, Michał Sokolnicki, Antoni Amilkar Kosiński, Wacław Gieburowski and Wojciech Turski (parish priest in the 16th c.). A plague commemorating Hipolit Cegielski from 1946 in the narthex at the end of the right aisle.
The church boasts a nativity scene with 102 moveable figures, among others Polish rulers and national heroes, that can be seen at Christmas time.
Numerous plaques on the walls of the church and on the surrounding wall commemorating eminent Wielkopolskans (among others Klaudyna Potocka and Emilia Sczaniecka).
The Crypt of Meritorious Wielkopolskans was established in the vaults of the church in 1923 on the initiative of the Curate Bolesław Kościelski. It proved too small; a new crypt was designed by Jerzy Gurawski, built in the years 1996-97 and connected with the old crypt through a passageway hammered in the foundation of the south chapel. Coffins with the mortal remains of Józef Wybicki (1747-1822), Antoni Amilkar Kosiński (1769-1823), Andrzej Niegolewski (1787-1857), Feliks Nowowiejski (1877-1946), Rev. Wacław Gieburowski (1878-1943), Heliodor Święcicki (1854-1923), Tadeusz Szeligowski (1896-1963), Stefan Poradowski (1902-67), Rev. Franciszek Bażyński (1801-76), Rev. Aleksander Żychliński (1889-1946) and Paweł Edmund Strzelecki (1797-1873) and urns with the ashes of Ignacy Prądzyński (1792-1850) and the heart of Jan Henryk Dąbrowski (1755-1818). The priests Wojciech Turski (d. 1592) and Krzysztof Boguszewski (d. 1635) are buried in the side chambers of the crypt. Worthy of notice is the Baroque sepulchral plate from the 2nd half of the 17th c.
All Saints Church
Designed by Antoni Höhne and built in the years 1777-1787 as an evangelic church dedicated to the Holy Cross. The church furnishings from the years 1785-87 were made by Augustyn Schöps. Roman-Catholic church dedicated to All Saints since 1945, parish church since 1981.
It is a Late Baroque and Neoclassical cross-shaped building on a rectangular plan with a tower to the west and a sacristy to the east. Figures of St. Peter and St. Paul from 1788 above the main entrance; a figure of Moses from 1787 (Augustyn Schöps) and a baptismal font from 1785 in the narthex. An elliptical trompe-l'œil dome in the central part of the shrine rests on eight columns with a double row of galleries between them. A wooden gallery from the years 1785-87 (rebuilt in the years 1926-27) above the entrance to the nave supported by two sculptures of atlantes. The church furnishings include the main altar with the painting The Last Supper adjoining the pulpit (with a medallion of St. Paul and a clock in the form of a grooved column) and the organ console. Pipe organs from 1785 above the altar with a cartouche featuring the monogram of King Stanisław August. Inscription plate of Siegmund Friedrich Goebel from the 18th century under the north gallery.
