Church of Our Lady of Częstochowa in Kraków (os. Szklane Domy)

The Church of Our Lady of Częstochowa and Blessed Wincenty Kadłubek stands in the middle of the Szklane Domy estate in Nowa Huta. It is a parish and monastery church of the Cistercians, with a modern brick structure and a roof that is meant to resemble a tree when seen from the front.

How a church came to be on the estate

Before 1949 a road ran here between fields, from Mogiła to Bieńczyce. In 1880 the people of Bieńczyce put up a wooden cross beside it, replaced in 1932 by a concrete one. The building of Nowa Huta did not destroy it, and the cross still stands in the middle of the estate, between two lime trees.

At the end of the 1970s Cardinal Karol Wojtyła decided to divide the large Mogiła parish into two smaller ones. The first Mass beneath the cross was held on 26 August 1978, and the authorities agreed to the building of a church on the Szklane Domy estate. Construction began in July 1982 with a chapel and a building with catechetical rooms and the monks' cells. The parish was established in May 1983. Work on the church proper started in August 1984, and the consecration took place on 11 June 1995.

Structure and interior

The parishioners chose the design from four proposals, and its authors are Krzysztof Dyga and Andrzej Nasfeter. The building is small, set into greenery and built of the brick from which the Nowa Huta blocks of flats were made. The roof above the entrances forms the shape of a tree: the entrances are the roots and trunk, and the roof is the spreading crown. The corners of the church are decorated with statues of the Evangelists.

The interior has no aisles, only a single hall, austere but bright and spacious. In 2004 an organ by G. F. Steinmeyer, brought from a church in Haugesund in Norway, was installed there.

Monuments in front of the church

In the square in front of the church stand monuments to Father Jerzy Popiełuszko, to the underground press of the martial law period, and a monument to the 25th anniversary of Solidarity. The same building houses the monastery and the St Bernard Cistercian Fathers' Boys' General Secondary School.

Nearby

Close to the church, about a kilometre away, is the Teatr Ludowy, and a little further, about four kilometres away, the Polish Aviation Museum.

Practical information

• Address: osiedle Szklane Domy 7, Kraków (Nowa Huta).
• Mass times and parish office hours are given on the parish website. Check them before your visit.
• The church is an active place of worship, so it is best to plan a visit to the interior around services.