Cerkiew Zaśnięcia Najświętszej Marii Panny, Kraków

Cerkiew Zaśnięcia Najświętszej Marii Panny is an Orthodox parish church concealed within a townhouse at Szpitalna Street 24 in Kraków’s Old Town. Founded as an army garrison church in 1918, it moved into a former synagogue in 1940. Jerzy Nowosielski created the entrance painting of the Mother of God and prophets.

At Szpitalna Street 24, the Cerkiew Zaśnięcia Najświętszej Marii Panny is an Orthodox parish church set inside a townhouse on Kraków’s Old Town. Its dedication is to the Dormition of the Mother of God. The building’s ordinary urban exterior is deceptive: it was adapted to meet the needs of Orthodox worship rather than built in the familiar free-standing church form.

This congregation began in 1918 as a garrison church for the Polish Army. Its first home was a former riding hall on Lubicz Street, followed by a large barracks room at Na Groblach Square. During the Second World War, the German authorities forced the parish out of those barracks.

In 1940, it received the damaged Ahawat Raim synagogue here, then being used as a carpentry workshop, and converted it into a church after repairs. After the war, Kraków’s Jewish congregation sought the building for a military synagogue, but the claim was refused and the parish received ownership. Notice the arched entrance openings: their painted decoration, by Jerzy Nowosielski, shows the Mother of God among prophets. A cupola was added above the church doors at the end of 2006, quietly marking this unusual sacred interior behind the townhouse façade.