The building is the former seat of the oldest, apart from that of Gostyń, Oratory Congregation in Poland and evidence of nearly 140 years of presence of the Oratory in Śródka.

History

The history of the presence of the Oratory Congregation in Śródka is inextricably linked with the history of the parish and the church of St Margaret on the Market Square in Śródka. Sródka, initially a trade settlement, was transformed into a municipal centre in the first half of the 13th century (in 1800, it was incorporated into Poznań). It is probable that at that time a wooden church of St Margaret already existed and, in approx. 1244, became the parish church.

Somewhere in the mid-17th century, the parish priest of the church of St Margaret, Stanisław Grudowicz, undertook efforts to create an Oratory Congregation, which coincided in time with the construction of the chapel of St Philip Neri at the church at his initiative. The efforts turned out to be successful and in 1665, a Congregation of the Oratory of St Philip Neri was established, to which, in 1671, the parish church was allocated.

Initially, the seat of the congregation was a wooden priests' house, adapted for that purpose in 1673. The construction of a brick house started after 1746 and was completed in 1777.

In 1805, the Oratory congregation was disbanded, and its church of St Margaret was allocated to the arch-cathedral parish, where it has been used as an auxiliary church until today. By decision of the parish priest, the house was designated for poor priests. In the years 1836-1839, it was a seat of the Fortification Commission. Somewhere in the mid-19th century, it was transferred to the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul (the Grey Sisters), to be used as an orphanage, which were run by the sisters until 1877, when they were removed from Śródka, to which they returned again in 1893.

At their initiative, in 1900, to the former house of the Oratory congregation, a northern wing was added, positioned at a right angle, and, from the north, a chapel in the corner connecting both parts of the present building. The extension is an example of a unique approach to the existing body of the historical building, which determined the proportions and style of the added part, combined with it in a homogeneous way.

After the end of World War II, the building housed a health care centre and residential premises. In the first decade of the 21th century, it underwent a full-scale renovation and conservation works. After their completion, in 2011, it became the seat of the First Degree Upper Secondary Cathedral Musical School and Lower Secondary Cathedral School.

Description

The former house of the Congregation of the Oratory of St Philip Neri is located on the right bank of the Warta river in the part of the city called Śródka, in the north-western corner of the Śródka Market Square, facing Filipińska Street with its front façade.

The building is comprised of two parts - the original Late Baroque one built in the years 1747-1777, whose gable faces south, and a newer northern one, erected in the same style at the initiative of the Grey Sisters in the early 20th century.

Both buildings were built of brick, on a rectangular floor plan, and plastered. Their cuboidal two-storey bodies are connected at a right angle, and their floor plan forms the shape of a steel square. They are covered with high gable roofs clad with roof tiles. During the extension, in their joining point in the north-western corner, a lower, single-storey chapel was built of brick, on a floor plan of an elongated rectangle, and plastered, covered with a chamfered three-sloped roof, clad with roof tiles and partially with sheet metal, with a tented roof topped with a cross on the axis of the northern façade.

The front façade, facing south-east, has two-storeys, nine axes, and its main entrance is located in the bottom section on the fifth axis, in the place where the two parts of the building are connected. The gable-end (southern and eastern) façades are also two-storey, and they have three axes and are covered with two-storey gables whose narrower higher part is connected with the lower, single-axis one with volutes, flanked by vases at the base. Window openings and door opening are rectangular, with semicircular arches on the ground floor and segmental arches on the first floor. Vertical articulation is formed by decorative pilasters in the giant order with capitals with rocaille decoration, resting on a high plinth clad with clinker tile, supporting the crowing cornice and doubled at the corners of the building. The fifth axis of the front façade is topped with a gable whose composition is analogical, even if slightly simplified, to that of the southern and eastern façade, with a cross on the top.

The historic complex is partially available for visitors. The current seat of the First Degree Upper Secondary Cathedral Musical School and Lower Secondary Cathedral School.

compiled by Anna Dyszkant, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Poznań, 31-10-2014.

Bibliography

• Atlas architektury Poznania, Poznań 2008, s. 116.
• Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, t. VII: Miasto Poznań, cz. I: Ostrów Tumski i Sródka z Komandorią, oprac. Linette E., Kurzawa Z., Warszawa 1983, s.135-136.
• Krzyślak B., Architektura kościoła św. Małgorzaty na Śródce, „Kronika Miasta Poznania” 1997, nr 1, s. 100-120 (s. 117-120).