Tourist routes in Cracow: Churches and cathedrals
Basilica of the Holy Trinity / Shutterstock
Basilica of the Holy Trinity
Located by the plac Dominikański and ulica Stolarska, its history dates back to the thirteenth century. In 1221, Bishop Iwo Odrowąż brought Dominican Monks from Bologna, and gave them a little Romanesque chapel. In its place stood a Gothic three-nave basilica, completed in the first half of the fifteenth century. The church entrance leads through to a neo-Gothic vestibule (1875), where there is an interesting portal from the end of the fourteenth century, with sculpted plant and animal decoration. In the second half of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the side aisles and chancel, as well as the family and guild chapels were were erected, and they were rebuilt in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. In the seventeenth century the burial chapels were formed for: Myszkowski, Lubomirski, Zbaraski. and St Jack (św. Jacka). The latter, was built on the model on the Wawel Zygmunt Chapel, which is one of the greatest works of art in Poland. It is decorated in Baltazar Fontana stuccowork (from about 1700 onwards), Karol Dankwart of Nyssa polychrome (1701) and paintings by Tommaso Dolabella from the first half of XVII century. There is also the Our Lady of the Rosary chapel (kaplica Matki Bożej Różańcowej) which was built (1685-1688) as an offering for victory in Vienna. Adjacent to the church are the monastery buildings which are clustered around three courtyard patios, erected from the thirteenth century. The Great Fire in 1850 destroyed the church, the tower and part of the cloister, but the basilica was quickly rebuilt and its interior was reconstructed.