Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Kraków

On 23 June 1597 the Jesuits laid the foundations of a church on Grodzka Street to the music of three choirs, with Mass said under a tent. So began the construction of Kraków's first fully Baroque building, funded by King Sigismund III Vasa. Today the Church of Saints Peter and Paul draws visitors with the statues of the twelve apostles in front of its façade, Poland's longest Foucault pendulum and the National Pantheon in its crypts.

History: Jesuits, an Orthodox interlude and a parish

The plans were probably drawn up by Giovanni de Rosis, and construction was led first by Józef Britius and then by Giovanni Maria Bernardoni. Giovanni Trevano gave the façade, dome and interior their final form in 1610–1619. The church was consecrated on 8 July 1635. After the Jesuit order was dissolved in 1773, the church passed to the Commission of National Education — Europe's first ministry of education — then to the university, and in 1786 to the Cistercians of Mogiła; in 1809–1815 it even served as an Orthodox church. Since 1830 it has belonged to All Saints parish, and in 1960 it was made a minor basilica. By seating capacity it is the largest of Kraków's historic churches.

The façade and the apostles

The two-storey dolomite façade recalls Carlo Maderno's Santa Susanna in Rome, with echoes of the Jesuits' Il Gesù. Its niches hold Jesuit saints — Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, Aloysius Gonzaga and Stanislaus Kostka — carved by Dawid Heel, and the top bears the coat of arms of the founder, Sigismund III. In front of the church, on the railing of the forecourt, stand the twelve apostles, designed by Kacper Bażanka and carved in 1722 by Dawid Heel from Pińczów limestone. Acid rain literally washed the faces off the originals; today you see modern copies by Kazimierz Jęczmyk, made from the same stone.

What to see inside

• The dome and stucco work on the vaults; in the apse, scenes from the lives of Saints Peter and Paul and figures of Poland's patron saints, and in the chapels putti and cartouches from the workshop of Giovanni Battista Falconi.
• The late-Baroque high altar of 1735 with Józef Brodowski's painting "Christ Giving the Keys to St Peter".
• The tomb of Bishop Andrzej Trzebicki from the late 17th century, an 1869 statue of the preacher Piotr Skarga moved here from Wawel Cathedral, and a baptismal font from 1528.
• The lighting was planned like a stage: light falls on the priest at the altar, while the pillars under the dome act as theatre wings.

The pendulum and the National Pantheon

Under the dome hangs Poland's longest Foucault pendulum — 46.5 m. On Thursdays there are demonstrations showing how its plane of swing appears to turn as the Earth rotates. It was first hung here in 1949 at the initiative of the astronomers Kazimierz Kordylewski and Władysław Horbacki. The crypts hold the Jesuit preacher Piotr Skarga, and since 2010 a National Pantheon has been created here; those buried in it include the playwright Sławomir Mrożek (2013), the chemist Karol Olszewski (2018), the poet Adam Zagajewski (2021) and the composer Krzysztof Penderecki (2022).

Tripto tip

The interior takes 20–30 minutes, but also look at the façade from the opposite side of Grodzka Street — only from a distance can you see how the apostles form a rhythm in front of the dolomite front. To see the pendulum in motion, come on a Thursday and check the demonstration times on the parish website. As early as 1638 the Jesuits ran the largest musical ensemble in Poland here — 80 to 100 singers — so it is no surprise that concerts are regularly held in the church.