Walk in Wroc豉w: Market Square and 安idnicka Street
Market Sqaure: St. Mary Magdalene's Church, Wroc豉w / Shutterstock
安idnicka Street: St. Mary Magdalene's Church
It was one of Wroclaw's two medieval parish churches, besides St. Elisabeth's Church. At the end of the 11th century a small church was built and used by Dominicans. In 1226 they moved to St. Adalbert's Church which made the one they left a parish church. The small building was immediately demolished and a new Romanesque one dedicated to St. Andrew Apostle and St. Mary Magdalene was built. It lasted only 9 years though, until the Mongolian Deluge. Another church was built between 1242 and 1248; however it burned down in 1342. Then it was decided to erect a large late Gothic one, using surviving fragments of previous churches. It was built between 1342 and 1362 gaining its present appearance, except for the upper parts of the towers. It is 62.8m long, 32.1m wide, the nave is 22.9m tall and the aisles 9.4m tall. The towers were finished much later, in the 15th century. Their distinctive feature is Witches' Bridge, also called Penitents' Bridge, linking the two towers on their upper level. It was mentioned in documents already in 1459. Two cone domes covered with lead were completed in 1481. A famous Sinner's Bell, Silesian's biggest one of the perimeter of 6.3m and the internal height of 1.8m was placed in the southern tower in 1386. It was destroyed in 1945, unfortunately. The church used to be richly decorated, it was enlarged in 1512 and had 16 chapels and 58 altars. It was Protestant from 1523. Yet in 1948 there were Lutheran services. Then it was handed over to the Polish Catholic Church in 1972 after being rebuilt for 10 years. Inside the original 16th century pulpit is preserved. At the turn of the 20th and 21st century the roof was renovated and the coloured chequered pattern of red and green was reconstructed along with Witches' Bridge.