Gothic, hall, parish church of medieval Olsztyn. Co – cathedral of Warmia, since 1992 – an archsee. The main church for the archbishop of Warmia, who resides in Olsztyn. It became a Cathedral Basilica in 2004.

 

History

The construction of the church started the moment the city was founded. In the 14th century the main body of the church and a three -storeyed tower were completed. In the 16th century vaults were constructed and in 1596 the tower was heightened. When the tower had seven storeys , it was covered with a tented roof with a Renaissance cupola. In 1721 Piotr Olchowski from Reszel added both chapels adjacent to the tower.

In 1807 Russian captives, brought here by the Napoleonic army and confined inside the church, kindled a fire. It resulted in weakening the construction of the church. In 1819 the vault above the organ gallery collapsed. The church, not renovated for years and threatening to collapse, was closed in 1864. A Prussian minister of preservation of historic monuments Ferdinand von Quast was in charge of its renovation between 1866-68. Another fire took place in 1896, then the main altar burnt down. Between 1898 and 1900 Feliks Nowowiejski, a future composer of ‘Rota’, was an organist in this church. The building was saved by Jan Hanowski, a priest, who forced the Russian commanders to resign from burning down the churches of Olsztyn. Since 1965 the church has been a burial place for bishops of Warmia. Bishops: Tomasz Wilczyński, Józef Drzazga and Jan Obłąk have their tombs here. During the stay of John Paul II in Olsztyn, on 5 and 6 June 1991, the Pope celebrated a holy mass in the cathedral. The archsee became a Cathedral Basilica by the decision of the Pope John Paul II in 2004.

In the chancel you can see the main altar made in 1896 by a Nuremberg firm of Rottermund. It is flanked by two baroque statues of St James the Elder and St Andrew. Both of them survived the fire. Below them, in the niches there are: a tabernacle with a Gothic grating and a Renaissance painting of Christ as the Man of Sorrow, on the other side - a reliquary of St. Adalbert. A baroque, 17th – century, black marble font was brought to the chancel from a baptismal chapel. On the chancel arch beam there is an oversize crucifix, sculpted in 1680 by Isaac Riga from Konigsberg. In the nave, at the pillars, there are Neo-Gothic statues of different saints: Adalbert, Anthony of Padua, Vincent, Notburga, John the Baptist, Barbara and Valentine and a pulpit made in 1913 in the workshop of Splieth from Elbląg. The pulpit is decorated with sculpted images Christ and four evangelists. In the gallery there are organs of Siegfried Sauer from Hoexter, renovated between 2006-08. At the end of the left aisle you can find a late Gothic altar of the Mother of God of Mercy from the 16th century, at the pillars - altars of: the Mother of God of Ostra Brama and of the God’s Mercy. At the end of the right aisle there is a Renaissance altar of Crucifixion, above it - a small organ by Max Terletzki from Konigsberg. At the pillar you can see an altar of St. Joseph and at the outer wall - a 17th-century baroque altar of the Mother of God of the Rosary. In the chapels adjacent to the tower there are: two chandeliers ( with a head of a deer and with a statue of the Mother of God with the Infant Jesus), a statue of Christ as the Man of Sorrow, an altar of Mother of God of Częstochowa, commemorative plaques of Father Teodor Bensch and Father Jan Hanowski and a bust of a bishop Maximillian Kaller. In the side vestibule there is an effigy of St. Florian and a stone 14th - century stoup. Roof supports have the shape of polychromed, bearded male heads, made of terracotta. Stained glass windows were designed by Hanna Szczypińska from Piastów between 1974-76 and then made in the workshop of Mieczysław and Karol Paczka in Cracow.

 

Architectural description

The church is Gothic, brick, on a stone foundation. The body of the building consists of the main body, a tower, two chapels adjacent to the tower and a side vestibule. The church body is topped with a single-ridge roof. From the chancel side you can see a decorative step gable, from the tower side – half gables. The tower was heightened in the 16th century and then capped with a tented roof with a Neo- Gothic cupola from the 19th century. Heightening of the tower was additionally emphasized by discontinuing green, ceramic decoration. The chapels adjacent to the tower are covered with pitched roofs. The side vestibule with a single-ridge roof was added to the left aisle.

The cathedral is a three- nave, six- span hall without a gallery or a separate chancel. In the nave there are net vaults, in the aisles - diamond vaults, in the chapels adjacent to the tower - a barrel vault with lunettes, in the vestry – a cross –rib one with a transverse rib. During the renovation in the 19th century, the cupola was removed, the church vestibule at the right aisle was pulled down and little octagonal columns were added on the corners of the church façade. The main entrance is under the tower, in a Gothic portal based on a multiplied, equilateral pointed arch. The door date back to 2001. It is decorated with the scenes illustrating the pontificate of John Paul II: the election of the Pope in 1978, a papal visit in Olsztyn in 1991, founding the Archbishopric of Warmia in 1992, inauguration of the Jubilee Year of 2000. In the pediment you can see St. James the Elder. In the panels on both sides of the portal there are: an epitaph of John Paul II and an inscription Basilica Minor 2004.

 

Interesting facts

In the aisle you can see well – preserved late Gothic stalls from a demolished Franciscan church in Braniewo. Only five backs were saved, the rest was burnt by an unaware housekeeper in a parish house of St. Catharine in Braniewo, while she was preparing dinner for the priest.

The altar of the Mother of God of Ostra Brama contains a painting by Ludomir Ślendziński painted in 1947 and fitted into a Gothic frame of the altar of St Catherine of Alexandria, founded and consecrated in 1489 by a bishop of Warmia - Lucas Watzenrode, the uncle of Nicolas Copernicus.

On 23 July 1635 king Wladyslaw IV visited the church while passing through Olsztyn on his way from Dobre Miasto to Olsztynek.

In the altar in the Chapel of Perpetual Adoration there is a statue of the Mother of God with the Infant Jesus flanked by rarely encountered saints: St. Canute of Danemark and St. Catherine of Sweden.

An original cover of a baroque font was damaged. A present 20th- century wooden cover imitates a former marble one.

 

Legends

There is a chandelier made of deer’s antler in one of the chapels adjacent to the tower. According to a legend, in the 16th century a burgrave from the castle organized a hunting at Długie Lake. A frightened deer reached the town, galloped along a few streets, ran into the church and dropped dead on the floor, in the middle of the nave. The chandelier made of antler is supposed to be a token of this event.

In the wall at the main entrance there are numerous round hollows preserved. This is a trace of a custom of kindling fire on Holy Saturday (liturgy of light). A legend claims that these are holes drilled by sinners as a penance set in a confessional. It is said that every sinner drilled with what he sinned with.

 

Practical info

- free parking lot for coaches – 400 m. away (Nowowiejskiego Street)

- sightseeing is free

- sightseeing ban during religious service

- sightseeing time- around 30 min.

 

Bibliography

Madej H., Współkatedra Św. Jakuba Starszego w Olsztynie, Olsztyn 1980

Lesiński A., Olsztyńska katedra Św. Jakuba na przełomie wieków, Olsztyn (no date)