Kościół Zwiastowania Najświętszej Maryi Panny, Kraków

Kościół Zwiastowania Najświętszej Maryi Panny is the Capuchins’ convent church on Loretańska Street, in Kraków’s Piasek area. The order arrived in Kraków in 1695, and Wojciech Dembiński paid for this church and selected its dedication to the Annunciation. Its first Mass took place on the fifteenth of August 1700; Bishop Kazimierz Łubieński consecrated it three years later.

The building follows Tuscan Baroque models, meaning the richly theatrical Italian church style associated with Tuscany, and it echoes traditional Capuchin churches in Italy. At the main altar is a 1701 Annunciation painted by the Florentine artist Piotr Dandini, sent to the Kraków Capuchins by order of Cosimo the Third de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Inside, one detail brings warfare abruptly into the sanctuary: a cannonball remains lodged in the pillar beside the main altar.

It entered the presbytery during fighting between Bar Confederates and Russian troops on the fifteenth of August 1768. The church and monastery passages are also lined with military memorials, reflecting the Capuchins’ long service as chaplains and companions to Polish insurgents from the Kościuszko Uprising until the First World War.