Kościół Świętego Augustyna, Wrocław

Kościół Świętego Augustyna is a Catholic church on Sudecka Street, built in 1909 as a Protestant church and later restored after wartime damage. Its seventy-eight-metre tower, carved stone exterior, Art Nouveau and Neo-Romanesque design, historic furnishings, stained glass and organ make it a distinctive Wrocław landmark.

Kościół Świętego Augustyna is the Catholic church on Sudecka Street, dedicated to Augustine of Hippo. Built in 1909 to designs by Alfred Böttcher and Richard Gaze, it began as a Protestant church of Saint John. Notice the richly carved stone facing across the exterior: the building combines Art Nouveau with Neo-Romanesque, a revival of the solid, round-arched language of medieval churches.

Its plan forms a Greek cross, with arms of equal length. At their meeting rises the church’s three-storey tower, seventy-eight metres high and among Wrocław’s tallest buildings. The lower two stages carry clusters of small corner turrets, while a steep copper-clad spire crowns the top; smaller versions finish the eight turrets.

War in 1945 damaged nearly half the church, but that left it repairable. Catholics bought it in 1948, restoration continued into autumn 1949, and Karol Milik consecrated it under its present dedication that September. Inside are a pulpit designed by sculptor Theodor von Gosen, nine apse windows made in 1964, and a forty-eight-stop organ by Wrocław organ builder Józef Cynar. The church is protected as a provincial immovable monument.