Church of St Martin in Krzeszowice

The Neo-Gothic Church of St Martin on the Krzeszówka river bears the signature of one of the most famous architects of 19th-century Europe. It was designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, the leading Prussian architect of his day, and funded by Artur Potocki, who had inherited Krzeszowice from his grandmother Izabela Lubomirska. According to the authors of the parish history, it was the first church on Polish soil built in the Neo-Gothic style – and it also serves as the mausoleum of the Krzeszowice branch of the Potocki family.

History: from Paris plans to Schinkel

A wooden Church of St Martin probably stood here as early as 1337; it was pulled down in 1829 to make way for the new building. In 1819 Potocki commissioned designs from the Parisian architects Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine, but they were never built. Schinkel's sketch was ready in 1823 and envisaged a two-level church with an underground mausoleum incorporating the Krzeszówka flowing alongside – the lower level was to be reachable only from the water. In the end the crypt idea was dropped and the church was shortened by one bay. Construction began in 1832, stopped after the founder's death and resumed in 1840 under the German master builder Hoffbauer. The church was blessed in 1844, fitting out continued until 1872, and the canonical consecration took place in 1874. In 1921 Countess Krystyna Potocka handed the church over to the parish.

What to see

• The pale sandstone façade with a triple pointed-arch portico, a rose window, the Pilawa and Korczak coats of arms and figures of the four Evangelists by Ferdinand Kuhn; the gable is crowned by St Michael the Archangel.
• Two towers above the chapels, linked by a gallery; the western one has three clock faces.
• The high altar with the Adoration of the Magi by the Italian painter Santi di Tito, dated 1596, bought by Potocki in 1832.
• Altars of multicoloured marble brought from Italy.
• The Renaissance tomb slab of Sebastian Lubomirski (d. 1613) in red marble, found in 1828 in the Spiski Palace in Kraków.
• A painting by Leopold Kupelwieser showing the founders Zofia and Artur Potocki kneeling at the feet of the Virgin.

Did you know?

The crypt beneath the church holds 15 members of the Krzeszowice branch of the Potocki family, including Andrzej Potocki, Governor of Galicia, killed by a Ukrainian nationalist and buried here in 1908; the most recent burials took place in 1995 and 2006. In the chapel with Franciszek Paszkowski's painting of St Martin, a stone from St Martin's tomb in Tours was set into the wall in 2002. The church also has residents few people know about: the church and its surroundings form the Natura 2000 site "Krzeszowice", protecting a maternity colony of Geoffroy's bats – the second largest in Poland.

Tripto tips

The church stands in the western part of central Krzeszowice, on the Krzeszówka, and is a working parish church – visit the interior outside Mass times. About 30 minutes is enough for the façade and interior. Combine the visit with a walk around central Krzeszowice, which the Potockis shaped as their family seat for more than a century. Remember that a protected bat colony lives in the church – do not disturb it.