The Baroque decorations adorning the feature situated within the area of Podgórze (currently a district of Toruń) serve as a reminder of the history of this part of the city, which was an independent administrative unit for several centuries.

History

The church and Reformed Franciscan monastery of Sts Peter and Paul the Apostles was funded in 1643 by Stanisław Sokołowski, governor of the Dybów District and castellan of Bydgoszcz. The Reformed Franciscans were brought by Kacper Działyński, bishop of Chełmno, in 1641 and originally placed in Toruń at the Church of St Lawrence, which was formerly owned by the Benedictine nuns.

In 1644, after obtaining the consent of o. Franciszek ab Aquila (Reformed Franciscan Commissioner) and accepting the donation from King Władysław IV Vasa, the Reformed Franciscans moved to Podgórz and the construction works began.

In 1659, the church was officially consecrated by Stefan Kazimierz Charbicki – suffragan bishop of Lviv and provost of a cathedral chapter in Włocławek. The construction was finally completed in 1661.

In the early 18th century, a chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary was added to the middle bay of the church from the north. In the mif-18th century, the fixtures and fittings were replaced. This was a result of the efforts of the Reformed Franciscans to have all church interiors decorated in a uniform manner.

After the dissolution of the Franciscan monastery and closure of the elementary school run by the monks, in 1832 the church became a parish church (to replace the Church of St Anne in Podgórz, which had burned down in 1813).

In 1882, the east and south wings of the cloister were demolished.

In the years 1845-1898, part of the monastery corridor was demolished due to its poor technical condition. In 1925, a free-standing bell tower and a new fence separating the church from Poznańska street were erected.

In 1991, the monastery garth underwent restoration based on the design of Henryk Pawłowski and the missing cloister wings from the east and from the south as well as the ceiling in one rooms in the east wing were restored. The Franciscan returned to Podgórz in 1987.

In the years 2002-2003, the church roof and the tower were renovated and September 2006 saw the start of renovation of the church façades.

Description

The church and the monastery are situated in Podgórz, a left-bank district of Toruń, at Poznańska Street, in the north-western part of monastery land. From the south, the church is adjoined by three monastery wings, forming a quadrilateral complex of buildings with a yard (garth) measuring 10.5 x 12 m the middle.

The Baroque church is oriented towards the east, built on a rectangular floor plan and follows an aisleless, three-bay layout with a two-bay chancel with a polygonal end section. From the west, the main body is adjoined by a rectangular porch and monastery buildings. A square chapel was added to the middle bay on the north side. The façades of the chancel and corners of the nave are reinforced with buttresses. The nave body and the chancel feature separate roofs (clad with S-shaped tiles); in the eastern part of the roof ridge above the nave body, there is an octagonal steeple with a Baroque onion-shaped cupola clad with sheet metal. The church is made of brick, on a plinth, and covered with plaster; the nave, the chancel and the chapel feature double barrel vaults with keystones, supported by arches which descend into walls in the form of lesenes. The porch features a vaulted ceiling of the groin type. The window openings have strongly splayed reveals, are narrower in the chancel and topped with round arches.

All walls are decorated with a profiled cornice at the level of the bottom edge of the window openings, as well as a dentil frieze in the top section, above which there is a profiled cornice resting on corbels underneath the eaves. The eastern and western walls of the main body are topped with a triangular gable. The west façade of the body is obscured by a porch up to the level of the eaves and crowned with a two-storey gable with volute-shaped edges and blind windows topped with semicircular arches.                                    

Inside the chapel of  the Blessed Virgin Mary, which opens up to the nave stronę with a semicircular arch, there are Tuscan pilasters. In the western part of the nave body, there is a wooden organ gallery supported by a pair of pillars. By the southern wall of the chancel, there is a gallery with two doors leading to the northern monastery cloister below.

The church fixtures and fittings are nearly uniform in terms of style, being mainly in the Rococo style from the 1860s. The dominant features include the main altarpiece, four side altarpieces in the nave depicting the Marriage of the Virgin from 1770-1780, St Francis from 1740-1750, the Sacred Heart of Jesus from c. 1770-1780, St Anthony from c. 1740-1750, as well as the altarpiece in the chapel of the Virgin Mary of the Apocalypse from 1760-1770; pulpit from 1763; baptismal font from c. 1750-1760; confessionals from c. 1740-1750 and pews for the faithful from 1740-1750. The painted decorations on the ceilings from 1957–1958 were created by Leonard Torwirt.  

The church may be visited during service.

Prepared by Marzenna Stocka, National Heritage Board of Poland, Regional Branch in Toruń, 16 November 2017

Bibliography

• Jerzy Domasłowski, Kościół Świętych Piotra i Pawła i klasztor franciszkanów (dawniej reformatów) na Podgórzu w Toruniu, Toruń, Towarzystwo Naukowe w Toruniu, 2007
• Dzieje i skarby kościołów Torunia Podgórza, K. Kluczwajd (ed.), Toruń 2007