St. Kazimierz Church ( pl, Kościół św. Kazimierza) is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

church in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

New Town New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

at '' Rynek Nowego Miasta 2'' (New Town Market Place, no. 2).

History

St. Casimir Church was originally the

Kotowski Palace The Kotowski Palace ( pl, Pałac Kotowskich) was a 17th-century palace in Warsaw, Poland. It served as the main cloister building for the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. History The palace was built some time between 1682 and 1684 fo ...

, residence of the Wyszogród ''

stolnik Pantler (, , russian: сто́льник, ) was a court office in Lithuania, Poland, and Russia, responsible for serving the royal table, then an honorary court title and a district office. Stolnik in Crown of Poland In the Crown of Poland und ...

'', Adam Kotowski. In 1688 it was purchased by Queen

Maria Kazimiera Sobieska Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial *170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, da ...

to be transformed into a church to serve the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament, whom she had brought to Poland. Bellotto New Town Market Square

In 1688-92 the Kotowski residence was transformed into a church-''cum''-cloister, to a design by the leading Polish-

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

architect Tylman Gamerski. As with many of the buildings that were reconstructed after the

Deluge A deluge is a large downpour of rain, often a flood. The Deluge refers to the flood narrative in the Biblical book of Genesis. Deluge may also refer to: History *Deluge (history), the Swedish and Russian invasion of the Polish-Lithuanian Com ...

, Tylman designed the church in

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

style. Between 1718 and 1721 the

trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

altars of St. Casimir and

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

were sponsored by

Michał Kazimierz Radziwiłł Prince Michał Kazimierz Radziwiłł () (26 October 1625 – 14 November 1680) was a Polish–Lithuanian noble and magnate. He is sometimes referred to as ''the first'' Michał Kazimierz Radziwiłł, to distinguish him from the other ...

voivode of Vilnius The Voivode of Vilnius ( lt, Vilniaus vaivada, pl, wojewoda wileński) was a high-ranking officer in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania who governed the Vilnius Voivodeship from 1413. He was considered as the most influential member of the Lithuanian Cou ...

. In 1718 the church furnishing was completed with a profuse late baroque

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, acces ...

in the shape of a

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanis ...

and between 1745 and 1748 with a

rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

. The significant additions in the second half of the 18th century were tombstones of the members of the

Sobieski family The House of Sobieski (plural: Sobiescy, feminine form: Sobieska) was a prominent magnate family of Polish nobility in the 16th and 17th centuries from which the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Jan III Sobieski originated. The family ...

- Maria Karolina Sobieska de Bouillon (the granddaughter of

John III of Poland John III Sobieski ( pl, Jan III Sobieski; lt, Jonas III Sobieskis; la, Ioannes III Sobiscius; 17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death in 1696. Born into Polish nobility, Sobi ...

) and Maria Józefa Sobieska. In 1769, the former 17th century

tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...

was replaced with a new marble one decorated with

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

. During the

Kościuszko Uprising The Kościuszko Uprising, also known as the Polish Uprising of 1794 and the Second Polish War, was an uprising against the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia led by Tadeusz Kościuszko in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the P ...

the nuns donated some of the church equipment to the army - 12 silver

candlestick A candlestick is a device used to hold a candle in place. Candlesticks have a cup or a spike ("pricket") or both to keep the candle in place. Candlesticks are less frequently called "candleholders". Before the proliferation of electricity, candl ...

s from

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

, 5 gilded

reliquaries A reliquary (also referred to as a '' shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including '' phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it is housed a ''f ...

, 52 precious votives and 4 statues of angels from the main altar - 412 silver grzywnas worth. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, during the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occurred in the summer of 1944, and it was led ...

, like nearby St. Hyacinth's Church, St. Kazimierz was used as a hospital. The nuns housed many civilians in the church and cellars and gave medical aid as well as they could. In August 1944 they decided to suspend their rules to assist wounded insurgents. Because of this decision the German military targeted the church and the cloister for heavy bombing. During a single raid on August 31, 1944, four priests, 35 nuns and over a thousand civilians sheltering in the church's crypt were killed. Sobieska's magnificent church and cloisters was destroyed. The church was reconstructed in 1947-53, but the

was never restored.

Interior

cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a s ...

design. The facade is baroque, although the interior is completely modern, because very few of the original furnishings of the church were preserved. Inside, the most valuable element of the original church's decoration are the preserved fragments of a brilliant tomb monument of Maria Karolina Sobieska de Bouillon carved by Lorenzo Mattielli in white and black marble in 1746. The effigy of the founder in an oval frame was placed atop the

plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...

with the

Janina coat of arms Janina is a Polish heraldry, Polish nobility clan coat-of-arms. Borne by several szlachta, noble families descended in the-male line from the medieval lords of Janina (the eponyms of the clan) or legally adopted into the clan upon ennoblement. Hi ...

and a royal crown. The whole composition was completed with carved statues of the

personification Personification occurs when a thing or abstraction is represented as a person, in literature or art, as a type of anthropomorphic metaphor. The type of personification discussed here excludes passing literary effects such as "Shadows hold their ...

of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi-confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Crown of the Kingdom of ...

and a

putto A putto (; plural putti ) is a figure in a work of art depicted as a chubby male child, usually naked and sometimes winged. Originally limited to profane passions in symbolism,Dempsey, Charles. ''Inventing the Renaissance Putto''. University of ...

, while the

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

above was adorned with

skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, th ...

s. The tombstone was reconstructed in 1961 by Antoni Szymanowski.

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
, Duchess of Boullion's Monument

File:Tombstone of Karolina Sobieska de Bouillon.JPG, 19th-century engraving File:Narobek Charlotty de Boullion.jpg, Overview File:Księżna de Boullion - Płaskorzeźba.jpg, Charlotte's bust

Photos

File:Ruins_of_St_Casimir_Church.jpg, The ruins of St. Kazimierz Church near the end of World War II File:VarsaviaPiazzaMercatoCittàNuovaLatoEst.jpg, The church from the New Town square

References

External links

*
kościół pw. św. Kazimierza
*

Description and photos of the church
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Kazimierz Church 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Poland Roman Catholic churches completed in 1692 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1953 Baroque church buildings in Poland Church of the Holy Sacrament Rebuilt buildings and structures in Poland Burial sites of the House of la Tour d'Auvergne Church buildings with domes 1692 establishments in Europe 17th-century establishments in Poland