History of the site

The first church in this location (the exact site is unknown) was built around 1200, funded by Bishop Pełka of Kraków. In 1244 Bishop Prandota transferred the Order of the Holy Ghost from Prądnik Biały to Kraków (where he built and equipped a new hospital and monastery) and offered them the Church of the Holy Cross. The present-day Gothic church was built in two phases. The chancel was built around 1300 and the nave in the second half of the 14th century. The vault dates back to around 1500. At that time, a small church dedicated to the Holy Spirit was erected within the monastery and hospital complex. In 1528 a serious fire in the north-east part of Kraków consumed both churches, the archives, the hospital, and the monastery. In the Church of the Holly Cross, the chancel vault collapsed, the nave vault was damaged, and the interior was burnt out. In the years 1530-1533, Provost Stanisław Teplar initiated a repair project, and later on the church was re-consecrated. The chancel vault was remade around 1533. At the same time, the Chapel of St Sophia was added at the south wall. At the end of the 16th century, the Chapel of St Andrew was erected from the north-west. It was funded by Andrzej Węgrzyn, a Kraków-based butcher. Around 1642 Marcin Lemiesz funded the Chapel of Our Lady of Loreto. It was added in the south-west corner. In the 17th century, the church fell into decline. In 1684, thanks to a donation of Bishop Andrzej Trzebicki, it was restored. Subsequent renovations were carried out in 1722 and between 1896 and 1898. Works completed at the end of the 19th century, supervised by T. Stryjeński and Z. Hendel, helped restore the Gothic character of the church. In 1930 the Chapel of St Sophia was renewed, and in the years 1958-1973 the 19th-century polychrome was removed to expose Renaissance frescoes.

Description of the site

The church is located in the Old Town of Kraków, in the east part of Plac Ducha Świętego, between the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre and ul. św. Krzyża. Originally a cemetery, monastery and hospital adjoined the church; they were demolished in 1891. The floor level is now well below the present street level. The body of the church is massive, with highly fragmented forms and heights. The front (west) façade looks slender. There is a centrally located, six-storey tower with buttresses in the corners. The façade on the east side has an axially placed window matching the height of the chancel. It is topped with a high triangular gable. The side façades are buttressed. In the south façade, in the axes between the buttresses, there are pointed-arch windows. In the north façade, there are only small window openings, allowing light into the sacristy, and a chapel window. This single-nave church has a rectangular, elongated three-span chancel. The chancel is somewhat higher than the level of the nave. From the north side, the chancel touches a rectangular, two-storey sacristy and a treasury of equal length of the chancel. The nave has the form of a regular quadrilateral. On the west, it is preceded by a rectangular porch with a four-sided tower on the central axis and two separated chapels: St Andrew (from the north) and Our Lady of Loreto (from the south). In the south-east corner of the nave, the is the Chapel of St Sophia; to the north, there is a neo-Gothic staircase, including access to the pulpit, and a turret leading up to the choir gallery.

The church is generally accessible; sometimes only the vestibule can be accessed.

Author of the note Grzegorz Młynarczyk, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Kraków 04/2015

Bibliography

• Bochnak A., Samek J., Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, vol. IV, part II, 1971. p. 75
• Kościół św. Krzyża w Krakowie, Kraków: Fundacja Ratowania Kościoła św. Krzyża, 1994
• Bąkowski K., Kościół św. Krzyża w Krakowie, Kraków 1904, p. 8
• Medwecka Z., Historia konserwacji polichromii w kościele Św. Krzyża w Krakowie, mps, wydz. Konserwacji ASP w Krakowie
• Książek L. – karta ewidencyjna opr. 10.2010