Kościół pw. Miłosierdzia Bożego, Kraków

The Church of Divine Mercy is a postmodern Roman Catholic church in Kraków’s Oficerskie estate, designed by Stanisław Niemczyk and Marek Kuszewski. Constructed from 1990 to 1994 after Edward Raczyński donated the site, it uses varied brickwork, timber, and a galvanized roof, with distinctive devotional art inside.

The Church of Divine Mercy before you is a Roman Catholic church on Kraków’s Oficerskie estate in Grzegórzki. Its postmodern design, by Stanisław Niemczyk and Marek Kuszewski, gives the parish a distinctly late-twentieth-century home. Notice the brickwork: brick in varied shapes, sizes, and colours is the building’s principal material, while its roof structure is timber and the outer roof is galvanized sheet metal.

This church took a difficult route into existence. Preparations began in 1982, after the authorities granted permission, but that consent was later withdrawn. Building could finally start in 1990 after Edward Raczyński, Poland’s president in exile, donated the plot to the Church.

The church rose between 1990 and 1994, and Cardinal Franciszek Macharski consecrated it on the fifteenth of May 2000. Inside, the Stations of the Cross placed on both sides of the altar wall were made by Stanisław Dyga in 1996. The Divine Mercy image is Agata Skowrońska’s painting on an oak panel, copied from an image by Adolf Hyła. Even the altar brings together humble, tactile materials: it is wooden, with a dolomite rock set beneath its mensa, while the gilded-front tabernacle rests on a pyramid-shaped brick base.