Preserved to this day, the complex of hospital buildings with the Gothic church of the Holy Spirit is a place that has been fulfilling the care and protective function for more than seven centuries.

History

The hospital complex with the church of the Holy Spirit was probably erected in 1292 thanks to the sponsorship of Żegota, Kraków Castellan, who also bequeathed his family property in Sandomierz to the convent of canon regulars de Saxi (Order of the Holy Ghost), who had most probably come from the Kraków hospital church of the Holy Cross. The order committed themselves to taking a broader care of the residents of the medieval town and travellers. With the new layout of the town in the mid-14th century, the order’s property found itself within the defensive walls with Opatowska Gate as its northernmost section. It was probably when today’s hospital church was erected. The hospital buildings were destroyed by the great fire of 1757 which consumed this part of the town. When rebuilt, the church received a new vaulting, a screen wall was added behind the altar along with an illusionist polychrome and painted decoration of the south chapel of Jesus the Merciful. The buildings were owned by the order until 1784 when Fr. Olechowski, the administrator of the Diocese of Kraków, moved three monks to Kraków and left only Fr. Jakub Janowski as the local manager. After his death in 1814, the property and assets were managed by the diocesan priests. In 1819, upon the initiative of Bishop of Sandomierz Prosper Burzyński, the hospital was taken over by the Sisters of Mercy who undertook the effort of rebuilding the facility and restoring its care functions. The greatest contributor to the undertaking Mother Superior Ewa Jabłońska, managing the hospital from 1834 to 1852. Between 1828 and 1829, a pavilion was erected with several rooms and a pharmacy; a new Neoclassical façade was installed of the church from Opatowska Street, and in 1836, another pavilion was built with rooms for children, a dormitory for nuns, the mother superior’s apartment, refectory, kitchen, etc.  After a major renovation carried out since the 1980s, the facility has been serving charity functions supervised by Caritas of the Diocese of Sandomierz.

Description

The hospital complex is located in the northern part of the Old Town, near the defensive walls. The complex, with its front façade onlooking Opatowska Street, is dominated by the brick, single-nave Gothic church with the presbytery enclosed on three sides. The church was transformed after the fire in 1757, and in 1829, its Neoclassical façade was added. The external part of the presbytery and the eastern corners of the nave are surrounded by buttresses with ogival Gothic windows between them, partially walled up. Adjacent to the nave from the south is Jesus the Merciful Chapel. The nave and the presbytery are crowned with sail vaults. The church interior fittings date back to the turn of the 18th century, including the illusionist painting of the main altar of ca. 1770, with the image of Pentecost of the 2nd half of the 18th century in a Rococo carved frame. What draws attention is the interior of Jesus the Merciful Chapel with the Rococo altar from the 2nd half of the 18th century and the miraculous statue of Christ the Sorrowful, most probably from the 16th century, according to tradition, originally placed in the castle chapel, and the walls decorated with a Rococo wall painting of the 2nd half of the 18th century with the scenes of miracles associated with the statue. Other hospital buildings - on the north side, between the church and the defensive wall, and on the south side - were raised along with the church façade in the 2nd or 3rd quarter of the 19th century owing to the initiative of the Sisters of Mercy.

The monastic buildings are inaccessible; church interior is open to visitors

Compiled by Jerzy Zub, 18.12.2014.

Bibliography

• Buliński M., Monografija miasta Sandomierza, Warszawa 1879.
• Koseła R., O fundację szpitala św. Ducha w Sandomierzu, (w:) Ziemia Sandomierska, t. IV, 1932, s. 56-70.
• Kalinowski W., Lalik T., Przypkowski T., Rutkowski H., Trawkowski S., Sandomierz, Warszawa 1956.
• Antosiewicz K., Zakon Ducha św. de Saxia w Polsce średniowiecznej, (w:) Nasza Przeszłość, t. 23, 1966, s. 167-98.
• Zimałek M., Siostry Miłosierdzia w Sandomierzu, (w:) Kronika Diecezji Sandomierskiej, t. 64, Sandomierz 1971, s. 15-20.
• Antosiewicz K., Klasztor św. Ducha de Saxia w Sandomierzu, (w:) Kronika Diecezji Sandomierskiej, t. 65, Sandomierz 1972, s. 32-44.
• Zub J., Działalność budowlana Sióstr Miłosierdzia w sandomierskim Szpitalu Św. Ducha (w:) Zeszyty Sandomierskie, nr 6, Sandomierz 1997, s. 21-25.