Location: ul. Piwna 9/11
Tel. 022 831 0221
Bus: E- 1, E- 3, 116, 122, 175, 195, 495, 50
Church of Saint Martin in historic part of Warsaw was built in 1631- 36 on a site of an older medieval Christian church. It was reconstructed in the early 18th century under supervision of architect Kalrol Bay who gave Church of Saint Martin its Baroque appearance including its beautiful facade. Warsaw Uprising of 1944 against German occupation badly damaged many buildings including this church. After completion of World War II church was restored to its original appearance under guidance and supervision of Sister Alma Skrzydlewska. During removal of debris and rubble workers discovered a beautiful crucifixion with a lower half of body of Jesus Christ. Crucifixion was preserved and a fragment of an upper part of the body was added with a modern ugly twist. Church of Saint Martin served as a meeting place in 1980's for Polish political opposition that tried and eventually succeeded in overthrow of the Communist government.
The church was founded together with the Augustinian monastery in
1353. On July 5, 1356, Pope Innocent VI granted prince Ziemowit III and
his wife Euphemia the privilege of bringing Augustinians to Mazovia.
Ziemowit promised to build three monasteries: in Rawa, Warsaw and
Ciechanów. Thus, the date the church was built, 1353, may not be
accurate. The names of churches are also mentioned in the papal
privilege. Warszawski was to be dedicated to the Holy Spirit, St. Martin
and St. Dorothy. The first church was built around 1380, dedicated to
St. Martin and St. Dorothy.
This is how J. Bartoszewicz describes
the original appearance of the temple (original spelling, omitting the
accents é):
Having received the papal bull, the prince built the
church in the form of a cross. On its sides, he erected chapels: on the
right, on the side of the Holy Gospel. Of the Spirit, on the left of St.
Dorothy. The Holy Spirit chapel served as a vestibule for the church:
next to it, the prince built a sacristy. He built the monastery to the
south, and a cemetery was drawn from the vestibule for burying the dead.
You also entered the church through the cemetery. Behind these
buildings, he left a field for the garden. The fund was for the
maintenance of twelve priests. After giving the church to the
Augustinians, the prince gave them a painting of the transfer of the
Virgin Mary to the great altar, which later became famous for miracles.
Thanks to the support of Prince Ziemowit, the Augustinians also
found themselves in the possession of seven villages and the town of
Cegłów.
In the area donated by Princess Anna to the Augustinians
(present address: Podwale 29), they built the hospital of St. Spirit
(does not exist at present). This is how J. Bartoszewicz describes it:
She wanted the Augustinian priests, who had so many goods, to build a
hospital for the sick at their expense, because she would prove that
these goods were assigned to the chapel of the Holy Spirit and that they
would only be donated for this purpose, with a solemn promise that the
property and management of the hospital would remain always at the
monastery. ... When the hospital was completed, the duchess concluded a
compilation with the Augustinians, in which she announced its
management, ... she further promised that during her lifetime she would
contribute to the hospital maintenance, as she was to give 60 kopecks of
rye and 40 ducats every year.
And despite the fact that this
agreement, written in 1442, was approved by Pope Eugenius IV and ordered
to nuncio Jędrzej Pallatio, Duchess Anna did not keep the agreement, she
did not pay the church and hospital, and in her will (1458) gave power
over the hospital to the Lazarists.
A fire in 1478, which
consumed the entire Piwna Street up to the castle, completely destroyed
the interior of the church. Marble altars cracked, paintings and church
decorations burnt. Only the painting from the high altar has survived.
The wooden roof and some Augustinian documents in the monastery also
burnt down. During the reconstruction in 1494, the sacristy was moved to
the All Saints Chapel. It was noted that the altar of Consolation of the
Blessed Virgin was renovated after the fire by the collector Kacper
Rzepcha - a Warsaw burgher.
In the 16th century, the temple
hosted general assemblies and relational assemblies of the Mazowieckie
voivodship ("Often, the walls of the monastery trembled with the clamor
of the saber nobility; whether to elect deputies to the Seym, or
deputies to the tribunal, or to spread taxes on the land, or to appoint
officials, whether to confederate, all this had to be done in the
so-called Masovian generals in the Augustinian church ”).
In
order to prevent drunken brawls and speed up the proceedings, the
nobility attended the assemblies in the church on an empty stomach, and
the deliberations began in the morning.
In 1695, the sejmik
nobility desecrated the temple with bloodshed, and as a result it had to
be re-consecrated.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the church was
rebuilt and restored. According to J. Bartoszewicz (original spelling
omitting the accents é):
In 1824 and 1825, the prior Alipi
Niedzielski took over the complete restoration of the church buildings.
The great altar, together with two adjacent ones, was ordered to be
gilded, cleaned and varnished. He renewed the same great presbytery and
the pulpit, and gilded both of them. He had the choir painted for the
band, he made the organ, decorated it with fresh paintings, also made
the sacristy, and strengthened the vault of the church. He had the whole
tile roof whitened. The monastery was previously decorated inside and
out and covered with tiles immediately after the French Revolution.
Father Alipi was also to write down from the monastery files with the
history of the Warsaw church of Saint Martin, but it did not come to
that
The temple, destroyed in 1944, was rebuilt after the war. Its
interior, however, is largely modern, made according to the design of
sister Alma Skrzydlewska. On the right pillar of the nave, there is a
commemorative plaque in memory of the scouts who died in the period from
1939–1945 and the soldiers of the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade and
the Cichociemni. On the side pillar of the nave there is the lower part
of the 17th century crucifix, destroyed by the Germans, located in this
place before 1944. On the side walls there are Stations of the Cross
made in the sgraffito technique by Sr. Skrzydlewska.
The remains
of Władysław Korśmieowicz are kept in the temple.
On May 24,
1977, a week-long hunger strike by oppositionists to free the arrested
workers and KOR activists began in the church. It was attended, among
others, by Stanisław Barańczak, Bohdan Cywiński, Jerzy Geresz, Father
Aleksander Hauke-Ligowski OP, Ozjasz Szechter, Kazimierz Świtoń and
Henryk Wujec. Tadeusz Mazowiecki was the spokesperson for the hungry.
The church is currently the rector's church of the Franciscan
Sisters, handmaids of the Cross, known to run a facility for the blind
in Laski. The first groups of the Renewal in the Holy Spirit in Poland
met in this church. St. Martin plays traditionally important roles
related to ecumenical services and the pastoral care of the Warsaw
intelligentsia.
Currently, the function of the rector of the
church is performed by Fr. Dr. Andrzej Gałka.