Holy Cross Church

At the beginning of the 16th century, on this site, outside the city limits, there stood the Chapel of the Holy Cross, mentions of which date back to 1510. In 1526, the wooden church belonging to the cathedral of Saint John the Baptist was demolished to make way for a new building. In 1596, Warsaw became the capital of Poland, and soon the small building no longer met the needs of the growing population. In 1615, the church was rebuilt and expanded by Paweł Zembżyski, becoming one of the main temples of the city's southern suburbs. In 1656, when Warsaw was captured by Swedish troops, the church was looted and severely damaged. During the reign of King Jan Sobieski, it was decided to demolish the ruins and erect a new building.

The temple was built in 1679-1696 by the court architect Giuseppe Bellotti. Its original appearance was relatively modest and resembled the Renaissance facades of nearby churches. The two flanking towers, square in plan, had a simple form. The construction was funded by Abbot Kazimierz Szczuka and Primate Michał Radziejowski, who consecrated the church on October 14, 1696. The main altar, symbolizing national unity, was completed around 1700 by Tilmann Gameren. In 1688, before the construction was completed, the temple was given to the Warsaw Brotherhood of Saint Roch.

In 1725-1737, the towers flanking the facade were crowned with late Baroque domes by the architect Józef Fontana. In 1756, the architect's son, Jakub Fontana, designed a new facade for the building. The sculptures that adorned it were made by Johann Plersch. During this period, the parish priest of the church was Piotr Śliwicki.

During the partition of Poland, the church gained great significance. It was repeatedly visited by King Stanisław II August. In 1765, he established the Order of Saint Stanislaus and presented it here annually on May 8. On May 3, 1792, on the first anniversary of the adoption of the May 3rd Constitution, the Polish Sejm gathered in the church.

In 1861, when Poland was engulfed in unrest that led to the uprising of 1863, a demonstration took place in front of the church, which was dispersed by Cossack troops.

In Christmas of 1881, a false fire alarm in an overcrowded church sparked a panic that led to the death of twenty-nine people in the ensuing stampede. Rumors spread that thieves had incited the panic to rob parishioners more easily, and supposedly two such pickpocket Jews were caught in the church. The outrage caused by these false rumors led to the Warsaw pogrom, which resulted in two more deaths and twenty-four injuries. On the streets surrounding the church, mobs began attacking Jews, Jewish businesses, shops, and homes. The riots lasted for three days, from December 25 to 27, until Russian authorities intervened and arrested 2600 people. The pogroms caused material damage to many Jewish families and led to about a thousand Warsaw Jews emigrating to the USA in the following months.

At the end of the 19th century, the church's interior was restored. In 1882, an urn containing the heart of composer Frederic Chopin was sealed in one of the columns (the Carrara marble epitaph was made by Leonard Marconi in 1880). In 1929, the heart of Wladyslaw Reymont was buried in the church. Besides, epitaphs to prominent Poles of the late 19th - early 20th centuries are installed in the church, including Juliusz Slowacki, Ignacy Kraszewski, Boleslaw Prus, and Wladyslaw Sikorski.

In 1889, the external staircase leading to the main entrance was reconstructed; a bronze sculpture of Christ by Pius Weloński replaced the concrete one.

In the early days of World War II, the church was damaged. Franciszek Smuglewicz's "The Last Supper" and Jerzy Siemiginowski's "Crucifixion" were lost. During the Warsaw Uprising, the church was one of the German strongholds. On August 23, 1944, it was captured by the insurgents. On September 6, 1944, the Germans detonated two 'Goliath' tracked mines filled with explosive charges in the church. The explosion damaged the main facade, collapsed the vault of the lower church, destroyed the Great Altar and the side altars of Saint Roch and Saint Vincent de Paul, and many baroque furnishings were lost. In January 1945, the church suffered from another explosion.

After the war, the scale of destruction was estimated at approximately 45%. Reconstruction of the church began in 1945, and by 1950 the building was restored in a simplified architectural form by architect B. Zborowski. The interior was also simplified; the baroque polychromy and frescoes were not restored. Reconstruction continued until 1953; the main altar was restored in 1960-1972.

In 2003, Pope John Paul II granted the church the status of a Minor Basilica.

Traditionally, on October 17, the anniversary of Frederic Chopin's death, a solemn mass is served in the church, during which Mozart's "Requiem" is performed.

In front of the temple in 1858, a statue of Jesus Christ carrying the cross was installed, cast from concrete in Ferrante Marconi's workshop according to the design of Andrzej Prushinski, funded by Andrzej Zamoyski. After a few years, cracks appeared on the sculpture. The magazine "Vendrovets" published calls for donations for casting the sculpture in bronze. In 1887, a mentally ill man damaged the sculpture by breaking off Christ's hand. This accelerated the decision to cast it in bronze. The statue was accurately reproduced in 1889 in Rome by Pius Wielenski. The monument was installed on November 2 on a new foundation made of black granite, designed by Stefan Schiller, with a gilded inscription Sursum Corda (lift up your hearts).

In September 1944, as a result of the detonation of "Goliath", the bronze figure of Christ fell onto the pavement and lay with its hand raised upwards, pointing to the inscription on the pedestal. On October 22, 1944, the Germans took it out of Warsaw to be melted down, but along with the monument to Nicolaus Copernicus, they threw it into a roadside ditch in Lower Haiduk, where the statues were found by Polish soldiers. Both monuments were transported to Warsaw and restored in the workshop of the Lopensky brothers. The statue reappeared in front of the church on July 19, 1945, and was consecrated in the presence of the President of the Republic of Poland, Boleslaw Bierut, and government representatives who arrived for the opening of the monument to Nicolaus Copernicus.

At the beginning of the 21st century, in the basilica, the reconstruction of the altar of the Holy Sacrament and the Holy Trinity in the right nave, once made according to the design of Tilman Gammerski, continued. The completion of the restoration of the temple and the full reproduction of the altar were to honor the 25th anniversary of the pontificate of John Paul II and the granting of the status of a Minor Basilica. In March 2004, at the request of the parishioners, John Paul II signed a solemn act of restoring the altar of the Holy Sacrament. He also expressed the wish that, given the exceptional significance of the temple for Warsaw and all of Poland, the altar be named the Altar of the Fatherland.

From September 21, 1980, from the church of Saint The weekly mass is broadcast at the Holy Cross in Warsaw. The broadcast is carried out by Polish Radio.

Broadcasting mass on the radio was one of the demands of the shipyard workers in August 1980. The protocol of the agreement signed on August 31, 1980 by the Government Commission and the Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee in Gdańsk included a clear provision: The government will ensure radio transmission of Sunday mass as part of a detailed arrangement with the Episcopate.

Currently, masses can be heard every Sunday at 9 a.m. on Program I of the Polish Radio.