Carmelite Church (Seminary Church) in Warsaw

At the top of the facade on Krakowskie Przedmieście gleams a copper globe wrapped in a serpent and crowned with a gilded host — since the 18th century Varsovians have called it the "bania karmelicka", roughly "the Carmelite bulb". The Church of the Assumption and St Joseph, known as the Seminary Church or the former Carmelite Church, has Warsaw's first Neoclassical stone facade. Unlike much of Warsaw, the church came through the Second World War undamaged.

History: 74 years in the making

Around 1642 the royal standard-bearer Albrycht Wessel decided to build a church for the Discalced Carmelites, who did not yet have a house in Warsaw. The founder died without securing the funds, so the work was completed by a succession of benefactors. The Baroque cruciform church went up in 1661–1681 to a design by Isidoro Affaita the Elder, with Costante Tencalla, Józef Szymon Bellotti and Tylman van Gameren also involved. From the start of construction to the consecration in 1716, 74 years passed. The facade was funded by Prince Karol Stanisław Radziwiłł, nicknamed "Panie Kochanku" after his favourite form of address: Efraim Szreger began it in 1762, and it was completed in 1779, when the famous globe was placed on the roof.

From monastery to seminary

On 1 September 1705 peace talks between the Poland of King Stanisław Leszczyński and the Sweden of Charles XII opened in the Carmelite monastery, ending with the signing of a treaty on 18 November 1705. Prior Jerzy Brzostowski founded a library here that was considered one of the largest in the country at the time. After the January Uprising of 1863–1864 the Tsarist authorities closed the monastery as a hotbed of Polish patriotism, and in 1867 the Warsaw Archdiocesan Seminary moved into the buildings. The church survived the war and in 1945–1952, until St John's Cathedral was rebuilt, served as Warsaw's pro-cathedral.

What to see

• The facade, with a portal of black-green marble, a cartouche with the Radziwiłł coat of arms and two towers, topped by the "bania karmelicka" globe — a symbol of Faith.
• The 18th-century high altar of St Joseph, with figures of St Teresa and St John of the Cross and a gloria with God the Father by Johann Georg Plersch.
• The 18th-century pulpit, probably to a design by Tylman van Gameren, with allegories of the four continents.
• Ten side altars, most of them by Leon Sużyński from 1857. One holds the icon of Our Lady, Patroness of a Good Death, which came from Ukraine and was a gift from King John Casimir in 1664.
• The Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre beside the chancel, designed in 1862 by Henryk Marconi, with a sculpture of Christ in the tomb by Oskar Sosnkowski.

Tripto tip

This is a working seminary church with no fixed visiting hours, so the best time to look inside is just before or after a Mass. According to the archdiocese website, Masses are held on weekdays at 7:00 and 18:30, and on Sundays and holidays at 9:30, 11:00, 12:30 and 18:30. Allow 20–30 minutes for the facade and interior. The church stands at Krakowskie Przedmieście 52/54, right next to the Presidential Palace, so it fits easily into a walk along the Royal Route from Castle Square. The best view of the facade and its globe is from the opposite pavement.