Lublin Archcathedral

Stand in one corner of the sacristy of Lublin Cathedral and whisper towards the wall — and someone in the opposite corner will hear every word. One story says a bishop wanted to eavesdrop on his visitors; another that it allowed priests to hear the confessions of the sick without coming close to them. The acoustic sacristy is just one of the surprises in this former Jesuit church, one of the first Baroque churches in Poland.

A Jesuit church

The Jesuits arrived in Lublin in 1582, and the foundation stone of their church was laid on 20 April 1586. It was designed by Giovanni Maria Bernardoni and Giuseppe Brizio, partly modelled on the Church of the Gesù in Rome. On 25 April 1604 Bernard Maciejowski, Bishop of Kraków, consecrated the church and dedicated it to St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist. It was built into the town's defensive walls, so its windows had to sit above the line of the walls. After a fire on 10 March 1752 the interior was rebuilt, and in 1757 it was covered with illusionistic frescoes by Józef Meyer, court painter to King Augustus III.

From grain store to cathedral

After the Jesuit order was dissolved in 1773, the church passed to the Trinitarians, but they could not afford its upkeep — under Austrian rule it even served as a grain store. When the Diocese of Lublin was created in 1805, the former Jesuit church became its cathedral. In 1821 Antonio Corazzi designed a Neoclassical façade with a six-column portico. Bombs dropped on 9 September 1939 damaged the cathedral; it was rebuilt on the initiative of Bishop Stefan Wyszyński, whose motto "Soli Deo" (To God alone) appears on the façade. Since 1992 it has been an archcathedral, the seat of an archbishop.

What to see inside

• Józef Meyer's frescoes in the nave, and in the sacristy and treasury scenes of the triumph of faith over heresy and a rider of the Apocalypse.
• The 17th-century high altar made of black Lebanese pearwood, with gilded figures of saints.
• Two Baroque paintings by Franciszek Lekszycki in the chancel: the Last Supper and the Feast of Herod.
• The Tribunal Cross in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament and a 14th-century baptismal font, both brought from the former parish church of St Michael.
• The painting of Our Lady of Tears in the left aisle — on 3 July 1949 it is said to have shed tears of blood, an event known as the Lublin miracle.

Crypts and tower

The bishops of Lublin are buried in the crypts; since 2005 visitors can see burial vestments and objects found during research there. In 2006 a permanent exhibition of goldsmiths' work and liturgical vestments opened in the restored treasury and acoustic sacristy. Next to the cathedral rises the Trinitarian Tower — once the gate of the Jesuit college, raised in 1627 to serve as a bell tower. Today it houses the Archdiocesan Museum, four bells and a viewing terrace with a panorama of Lublin.

Tripto tip

The cathedral stands on Cathedral Square (plac Katedralny), right next to the Kraków Gate and the old town. You can enter the church itself outside services; the acoustic sacristy, treasury, crypts and tower are a separate part of the visit, usually with a ticket — check current hours and prices before you go. Allow about an hour for the cathedral and crypts, an hour and a half with the tower. The whisper test in the sacristy works best with two people: stand in opposite corners facing the wall.