DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.25050#0307
sity. The Jesuit Order set up its headquarters on Grodzka Street
while already in possession of St Barbara’s, after a failed attempt
to locate a new church and monastery in the Market Square.
Sigismund III sponsored the foundation of the complex. In 1596
the famous preacher Piotr Skarga bought up the site, and erection
of the church was soon begun. The story of the construction of
SS. Peter and Paul’s is very complicated and subject to heated
scholarly debate, even the authorship of the original design
remaining a point of dispute.
The design, directly based on the model of the Gesu Church in
Rome, was probably created in Rome by the order’s chief architect
Giovanni de Rosis. The supervising architects on the site were,
successively, Giuseppe Britius (Brizio) and Giovanni Bernardoni,
who by 1605 had raised the entire church except for the dome and
the fa$ade. These sections were completed by Giovanni Trevano,
who took over construction in 1609. From its very beginning, the
construction ran into serious obstacles, due to structural faults.
Bernardoni attempted to remove them by reinforcing the founda-
tions and buttressing the walls, but Trevano nonetheless had to
unmount his first dome in order to strengthen the pillars bearing
it. The present dome dates from 1619, and the stonework of the
facade was executed from 1622 to 1639. Meanwhile, the interior
was being decorated with stuccowork by Giovanni Battista Fal-
coni. The consecration of the church took place in 1635, but
significant alterations were introduced as late as the first half of the
eighteenth century, when Kasper Bazanka erected the enclosure
fronting the fa$ade and probably designed the high altar. After the
dissolution of the Jesuit Order, the church was administered by
the National Education Committee, and in 1830 the parish of All
Saints was moved here, following the demolition of the medieval
collegiate church under that name.
Cracow’s Jesuit Church is among the most faithful and
artistically accomplished examples of transplanting the model of
the Gesu Church to a foreign soil. Its Latin Cross plan, the dome
and corpus composed of a spacious nave and side chapels, is the
292
while already in possession of St Barbara’s, after a failed attempt
to locate a new church and monastery in the Market Square.
Sigismund III sponsored the foundation of the complex. In 1596
the famous preacher Piotr Skarga bought up the site, and erection
of the church was soon begun. The story of the construction of
SS. Peter and Paul’s is very complicated and subject to heated
scholarly debate, even the authorship of the original design
remaining a point of dispute.
The design, directly based on the model of the Gesu Church in
Rome, was probably created in Rome by the order’s chief architect
Giovanni de Rosis. The supervising architects on the site were,
successively, Giuseppe Britius (Brizio) and Giovanni Bernardoni,
who by 1605 had raised the entire church except for the dome and
the fa$ade. These sections were completed by Giovanni Trevano,
who took over construction in 1609. From its very beginning, the
construction ran into serious obstacles, due to structural faults.
Bernardoni attempted to remove them by reinforcing the founda-
tions and buttressing the walls, but Trevano nonetheless had to
unmount his first dome in order to strengthen the pillars bearing
it. The present dome dates from 1619, and the stonework of the
facade was executed from 1622 to 1639. Meanwhile, the interior
was being decorated with stuccowork by Giovanni Battista Fal-
coni. The consecration of the church took place in 1635, but
significant alterations were introduced as late as the first half of the
eighteenth century, when Kasper Bazanka erected the enclosure
fronting the fa$ade and probably designed the high altar. After the
dissolution of the Jesuit Order, the church was administered by
the National Education Committee, and in 1830 the parish of All
Saints was moved here, following the demolition of the medieval
collegiate church under that name.
Cracow’s Jesuit Church is among the most faithful and
artistically accomplished examples of transplanting the model of
the Gesu Church to a foreign soil. Its Latin Cross plan, the dome
and corpus composed of a spacious nave and side chapels, is the
292