Bazylika Świętego Franciszka z Asyżu, Kraków

Before you is the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, a Roman Catholic church joined to a Franciscan friary in Kraków’s Old Town. It bears the name of Francis of Assisi and belongs to the city’s oldest sacred landscape. The church was consecrated in the thirteenth century and grew through later medieval rebuilding.

Its Gothic character comes from the medieval European tradition that favoured soaring interiors, pointed forms, and ribbed vaulting. A devastating fire in the nineteenth century destroyed records of its consecration along with irreplaceable treasures, yet renewal gave the church a remarkable artistic identity. In the presbytery, Stanisław Wyspiański created plant-inspired wall painting and designed stained glass that was made in Innsbruck.

His work also fills the great window above the choir with God the Father, an image completed in the early twentieth century. This friary also forms part of the life of Maximilian Kolbe: he lived here as a friar and celebrated his debut Mass here when Poland regained independence. The church received the rank of minor basilica soon afterwards.