Virtual tour

Choose location
	Church - exterior
	Church - center
	Church - altar
	Church - left to altar
	Church - right to altar
	Church - under the gallery
	Church - shrine 1
	Church - shrine 2

Details
Name: Church of St. Elisabeth in Wroclaw (garrison church)
Style: Gothic
Current function: Minor Basilica
Location: Close to the Market Square Between Kiełbaśnicza, Odrzańska, św. Mikołaja and św. Elżbiety Streets

Information

The church is located in the square between Kiełbaśnicza, Odrzrańska, św. Mikołaja and św. Elżbiety Streets making the pendant for the Solny Square. The first church on this site, firstly dedicated to St. Lawrence, was built of stone and brick in Roman style, probably at the beginning of 13th century. In 1253 it was handed over to the Knights of the Cross with Red Star by Henry III as a monastic church. On the 31st of March 1252, the parish of St. Elisabeth was mentioned for the first time. On the 19th of November 1257, the Church of St. Elisabeth was consecrated by bishop Thomas I. Nevertheless, its dedication was used parallel to that of St. Lawrence, which was transferred after 1387 to the high altar and church tower built before 1339.

The current three-nave basilican church, founded by Boleslaw III, was erected at the beginning of the 14th century in regressive Gothic style. Between 1309 and 1318 the naves’ east span was erected. In 1340 the nave was finished. In 1384, the Chapel of The Blessed Virgin Mary was built (by Otton form Nysa), and in 1387 the presbytery. It served as a parish church of the Wroclaw patriciate and expressed its ambitions by competing in size with the bishop’s Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. The flying buttresses carrying the forces of the main nave are situated low; under the roofs of the side naves, in the Cracovian system. The naves are covered over simple cross vaults. The church presbytery is sectioned off in the interior by protruding buttresses. It does not stand out from the mass but makes a three-sided enclosure. The side naves extend to the end of the presbytery and are analogously finished without creating an ambulatory. The church is 68.2 meters long and 34.37 meters wide. The massive tower adhering to the church in the south was erected in the middle of the 15th century. It lacks buttresses and is accentuated by pilaster strips. The tower is 130.5 meters high, including the cupola. In that times it was the highest Silesian tower and one of the highest constructions in the world. Around the church there was a graveyard surrounded by a small circle of tiny houses belonging to the altar priests, which enhanced the impression of the church’s great size. The porches were built on the south and north sides. The main portal leads to the tower’s ground area. Relatively ineffective west elevation does not have a portal, and due to the adhering street it is laid diagonally in respect to the axis of the church.

On the 6th of April 1525, St. Elisabeth’s church was the first Silesian church taken over by evangelicals. Ambrosisus Moiban became its minister. The takeover was allegedly the result of Erkhard Scultetus’s, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, loss in dice with Wroclaw’s patrician and royal treasurer Heinrich von Rybisch. In 1529, during a strong gale, the cupola of the tower collapsed and its ruins fell on the graveyard. Catholic writers described the event as God’s punishment for the evangelicals, who claimed, on the other hand, that the fact that nobody was hurt proved God’s special care over them (the ruins crushed only a cat) . The tower was rebuilt between 1531 and 1535 with a significantly smaller Renaissance cupola, the form of which can be admired today. In 1598, during the renovation of the roof, slipped tiles were laid creating the red and green chequer pattern (the roofs of the Town Hall and Mary Magdalene parish church were patterned likewise). In 1649, a part of the roof truss collapsed. Another time the church was severely damaged was during Napoleon army’s siege of the city between 1806 and 1807, when the roof and the tower’s cupola were damaged. Between 1856 and 1857 the church was being renovated, but during the works the outer wall of the south nave and parts of the vaults collapsed. After the renovation and construction reinforcement, on the 19th of November 1858, the church was again consecrated. With time the church got rich furnishings (sponsored by wealthy citizens) and numerous epitaphs (approximately 370).

Information continued

WBetween 1750 and 1761, Michael and Benjamin Engler, and further Gottlieb Ziegler, built in the church a big organ, which, after several renovations (the last between 1939 and 1941), had 91 voices (destroyed in fire in 1976). Other, smaller organ from 1718, constructed by Adam Honoratio Casparini, is currently located in the Music Hall of Wroclaw University.

At the end of 19th century most of the altar priest’s houses were demolished in order to enhance the traffic capacity. Only four houses were left, but at the beginning of the 20th century one more was destroyed. Three houses joined by a gate and called ‘Jas’ and ‘Malgosia’ remained despite the plans of a new street regulation and construction of a department store in that area in the twenties.

The church survived World War II without much damage. It served for a short time as a church of already Polish Evangelic-Augsburg parish. In November 1946 it was handed over to the catholic military ordinariate and gained the status of a garrison church. It also served as a concert hall and its organ was used during the Wratislavia Cantas Festival. Rich furnishings of the church and a large part of its original building substance was consumed by three fires. The first took place on the 4th of June 1960, when due to a struck of lighting, the top of the tower burnt and the roof was damaged. The roof and the tower were rebuilt, but on the 20th of September 1975 the former caught fire and the surrounding wooden scaffolding with it. Completely destroyed were the renaissance dome, the stonework of the tower and one of three bells (the remaining two tore off the suspension but survived the downfall). The last, but the most serious in consequences, was the fire on the 9th of June 1976. It caused almost complete destruction of the wooden furnishings of the church. The fire consumed the organ and the roof truss. The vaults of the main nave collapsed. The reconstruction was taken up in 1981. Throughout the eighties the reconstruction process proceeded very slowly. Modern building techniques were utilized. The dome, in the old form, was made of reinforced concrete. The roof truss was covered with metal sheets and tiles in order to ensure full tightness (the chequer pattern was also reconstructed). The reconstructed tower is 90.46 meters high (including the knob). The interior was rebuilt to resemble Gothic forms. The church and the tower’s observation deck were opened to believers and tourists in May 1997. On the 31st of May 1997, Pope John Paul II consecrated the church and gave it the status of Minor Basilica.

Information from Wikipedia

Map

created by ivc.pl multimedialne prezentacje