Radom Cathedral

The two 72-metre towers of Radom Cathedral deliberately echo the taller tower of St Mary's Basilica in Kraków, and Józef Pius Dziekoński's whole design is a "younger sibling" of his St Michael and St Florian Cathedral in Warsaw's Praga district. This neo-Gothic basilica was built from residents' donations over two decades, at a time when the Russian imperial authorities were reluctant to approve new churches. Today it is the cathedral of the Radom diocese and one of the city's best-known landmarks.

History: a church won from the tsarist authorities

When the Piarist church was closed in 1873, the growing town was left with just two working churches. Bishop Józef Juszyński of Sandomierz asked the tsarist authorities for permission to build a new one, but the first designs of 1876 were shelved. The first donation – 5 roubles – came in 1886 from Zdzisław Szemianowski, and in 1890 parish priest Józef Urbański appealed to residents and pledged 1,000 roubles himself. Józefa Łącka gave 30,000 roubles, which paid for the plot and the design.

Józef Pius Dziekoński drew up the plans in 1896, basing them on his cathedral in Praga. Permission came in 1898, and the foundations were blessed on 14 September 1899. The church was blessed in 1908; in 1909 three bells – St Michael, St Joseph and St Peter – were hung in the right-hand tower, and the main interior work was finished in 1918. It was consecrated in 1962, became a co-cathedral in 1981 and, on 25 March 1992, the cathedral of the new Radom diocese. Pope John Paul II visited in 1991.

What to see

The cathedral is a three-aisled basilica with a transept and a façade decorated with a rose window and three portals. Its flying buttresses follow French Gothic models, and the interior, about 21 m high, feels bright and soaring.

• High altar in the form of a triptych with pinnacles and gilding. The central niche holds a Madonna and Child carved in Rome from white Carrara marble; it can be covered by a painting of the Transfiguration on copper by Jan Strzałecki.
• Stained glass behind the altar – including the Annunciation, the Immaculate Conception and Christ in Gethsemane.
• Organ – a 23-stop instrument by Stanisław Jagodziński from 1913.
• Neo-Gothic pulpit with figures of the four Evangelists and a canopy topped with an openwork turret.
• Plaque honouring the writer Henryk Sienkiewicz from 1916 and a reliquary of St Casimir by Bronisław Chromy.
• Sarcophagus of Bishop Jan Chrapek in the left vestibule.

Did you know?

The monument to Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński in front of the cathedral commemorates an event of 18 June 1972. A copy of the Częstochowa icon, which had been "arrested" by the communist authorities for years, was spirited away by a Radom priest, Father Józef Wójcik, and carried to the front of today's cathedral by Primate Wyszyński and Cardinal Karol Wojtyła. During the Second World War the Germans tried to requisition the bells but managed to take down only the small signal bell.

Tripto tip

The cathedral is a working church on Sienkiewicza Street, so visit outside services and check the Mass times in advance. View the façade from a little distance to take in the full height of the towers. Thirty to 45 minutes is enough for the interior, and you can easily extend the walk to nearby Kościuszko Park and Radom's centre.