Kościół pw. Świętych Apostołów Piotra i Pawła, Kraków

Before you rises the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, a Roman Catholic landmark on Grodzka Street in Kraków’s Old Town. Its dolomite frontage turns the street into a stage set: sculpted saints occupy the façade’s recesses, while the Jesuit emblem sits over the entrance. King Sigismund the Third Vasa paid for this church as a home for the Jesuits, and its construction unfolded from fifteen ninety-seven to sixteen nineteen.

Giovanni Maria Bernardoni reshaped an earlier scheme, and Giovanni Battista Trevano gave the exterior, dome, and interior their lasting character. It became Kraków’s earliest building made wholly in the Baroque manner—a theatrical style of movement, drama, and richly arranged surfaces. Notice the apostle figures along the enclosure.

They are modern limestone replacements by Kazimierz Jęczmyk; acid rain had badly eroded the eighteenth-century sculptures they reproduce. Beyond the doors, the church holds Poland’s longest Foucault pendulum, measuring forty-six and a half metres. Its steady swing makes the planet’s rotation visible. The crypts below also form part of Poland’s National Pantheon, the burial place of major figures from the arts, culture, and science.