A parish church for the pre-war district of Nowe Miasto. The tallest and the biggest church of Olsztyn. In the 80s it became the church of “Solidarność”.

 

History

At the end of the 19th century there were already over 15.000 Catholics in Olsztyn and only one church of St James. The construction committee of the second catholic church in Olsztyn was established in 1895. The church is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dedicating churches to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was extremely popular at the end of the 19th century. The construction was financed mostly from the donations of the Polish speaking inhabitants of Warmia. ”Gazeta Olsztyńska” collected money for this purpose. The corner stone was consecrated by the bishop of Warmia, Andreas Thiel, on 3 October 1901. At first it was a branch church of the parish church of Olsztyn. A separate parish was established in 1916. The church was designed by an architect Fritz Heitmann. The construction works were conducted by Albert Scholz, bricks were supplied by Olsztyn brickyard owners and councilors from the City Council - Max Lion and Otto Naujack. Facing tiles were brought from the brickyard of A. Schlüter in Klucznik. The consecration took place on 19 October 1903.The opening of the church added splendour to the celebrations of the 550th anniversary of the city. During the opening ceremony Oscar Belian, a mayor of Olsztyn, gave an anti- Polish speech, praising the First Partition of Poland in 1772 and at the same time banning holding religious service in the Polish language there. The church avoided damaging during the Red Army soldiers arrival in 1945, and therefore its entire Neo-Gothic furnishing was preserved. In the Polish People's Republic time, the Church of the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ was the shrine of Olsztyn ”Solidarność”. The northern aisle is filled with commemorative plaques dedicated to Solidarność, underground movement in Poland and Eastern Borderlands. The first plaque from the chancel side commemorates Marcin Antonowicz, a student from Olsztyn, murdered by the police in communism time. On its 100th anniversary, at the beginning of the 21st century, the church underwent a general overhaul.

In the chancel there is a vertical main altar from 1911 (H. Hartmann’s workshop from Wiedenbrueck). In the antependium you can see an Apocalyptic Lamb with a small flag, lying on the book with seven seals. On the sides there are: Abraham Sacrifying Isaac and Israel Leaving Egypt. In the predella of the tabernacle there is the scene of The Annunciation on the sides there are the effigies of Church Fathers: St Augustine, St Jerome, St Ambrose and St Gregory. Over the tabernacle Eucharistic Throne – The Crucifixion Group, flanked by angels. Above, in the centre of the altar, you can see a group of Saints connected with the cult of the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ: St Margaret Alacoque, St Mathilda, St Francis de Sales and St Bonaventure. Above them, in the middle, a statue of Christ with open arms and a flaming heart surrounded by the evangelists: St Lucas, St John, St Mark and St Matthew. On the sides there are two groups: St Teresa of Ávila with prophets: Jeremiah and Isaiah and St Thomas of Aquin with prophets: Ezekiel and Daniel. On top of the altar there is Archangel Michael with a Cross. The altar panels are filled with scenes from the Bible: the Supper at Emmaus, Agony in the Garden, Jesus Falling Under the Cross, Last Supper, Melchizedek’s Offering, Scourging of Our Lord, Crown of Thorns and Manna in the Desert (David and St John Chrysostom). After closing the altar wings you can see: Healing of the Leper, Conversion of the Harlot, Turning Water into Wine and the Miracle of the Loaves. Paintings in the chancel were made in 1952. They show the following scenes: Baptism of Christ and Miraculous Draught of Fishes.

In the main nave, at the pillars near the chancel there are figures of Christ the King and Mary the Queen. At the pulpit there is St Therese of the Child Jesus, at the pillars two statues: St Elisabeth with the poor and the old man and, at the entrance, under the organ loft - St Vincent de Paul and St Francis of Xavier. The author of the pulpit from 1911 is H. Hartmann of Wiedenbrueck. Scenes on the pulpit body are as follows: Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well, Sermon on the Mount, Sending the Disciples and a 12 – year – old Jesus Teaching in a Temple. In the organ loft you can see the organ made in 1916 by Brunon Goebel from Konigsberg. In the vestibule you can see a free- standing statue of St Charles Borromeo.

In the northern aisle, at its very end, you can see a vertical altar from 1904. In the predella there is The Crucifixion Group with evangelists on the sides: St Lucas and St Mark. In the central part there is St Valentine, above- St Andrew surrounded by 12 Apostles. A chapel of the Mother of God of Częstochowa, organized in 1957, adjoins this aisle. The altar in the chapel was created by students of fine arts from Gdańsk.

In the southern aisle, at its very end, there is a vertical altar from 1904, by Georg Schreiner from Regensburg. In the antependium you can see the following scenes: Supper at Emmaus and Melchizedek’s Offering. In the middle there is the Mother of God of Immaculate Conception, on the sides you can see: The Annunciation and The Nativity. Above, in the middle – Our Lady of the Rosary with St Francis and St Clara, on the sides: St Ann and St Joaquin. On top there is an angel with a shield and the figures of: St Agnes, St Dorothea and St Barbara. A chapel of St Joseph adjoins this aisle. Inside the chapel there is a vertical altar by H. Hartmann from Wiedenbrueck from 1910. Over the mensa you can see the scene with Joseph of Egypt, the Pharao and the Egyptians searching for Joseph’s help. In the central part there is St Joseph with the Child, surrounded by the following scenes: The Nuptials, The Adoration of the Magi, 12-year - old Jesus Teaching in a Temple and the Holy Family in Nazareth. On top you can see Christ Enthroned and the statues of: St Isidore and David with a harp (stolen in 1992) and angels (one of them also stolen in 1992). The whole altar is flanked by the statues of St Joseph and St Barbara (stolen in 1992, found again in Cracow).

In the baptismal chapel we can find a horizontal altar of St Francis and a font by Vetter from Dobre Miasto, In the centre of the altar- St Francis of Assisi, on the left - St Anthony of Padua, on the right - St Francis of Xavier. At the entrance at the pillar there is a statue of St Anthony with the Child and the poor.

Stainglass windows were made by Robert Siebert from Konigsberg in 1903. The aisle windows are filled with monochromatic glassing in form of a rhombic grating with images of prophets and Church Fathers under the arches. Windows in a chapel of St Joseph show the following scenes: The Flight into Egypt and The Death of St Joseph. The windows of the baptismal chapel are decorated with the images of St Francis and St Notburgia.

 

Architectural description

The Neo - Gothic church is a three - nave, six - bay hall with a separate, polygonally closed chancel. In the fourth bay the Chapel of the Mother of God of Częstochowa adjoins the northern aisle. In the second bay the chapel of St Joseph adjoins the southern aisle. The church has three towers. The main one is 82.5 metre tall, based on a square, with a little covered gallery, crowned with an octagonal, lean spire. The spire is flanked by four little octagonal turrets, protruding beyond the tower walls, supported on stone corbels. The edifice has decorative gargoyles in the shape of dragons. The towers adjacent to the chancel are 47 metres tall, crowned with pyramidal spires. Over the entrance portal there is a mosaic depicting Christ with a flaming heart. A Latin inscription ” Put me as a seal on your heart”, made by P. Gostek from Konigsberg, fills the entire length of an arch crowning the portal. Below this inscription there are symbols of four evangelists. The church elevations are decorated with green and yellow glazed moulds, brought from the Silesian workshops in Małomice and Zebrzydów. The main nave is covered with a star vault, the chancel – with a diamond vault, the aisles – with tripartite ones.

 

 

Interesting facts

During the transport of granite columns for the church interior, one of them cracked and should have been replaced. In spite of that, the decision was taken to use the damaged column. The cracked area was supported by means of a metal bar and the whole column was bricked round. This decision forced a change in the whole interior decoration concept. All the walls and the other columns were covered with yellow brick. This resulted in a six- month delay in the church opening. A short column at the entrance of St Joseph chapel remained unchanged.

Heitmann adapted the concept of arcade gablets on top of the outer walls of the chancel and the gable of St Joseph’s chapel from the castle of Malbork. The main tower is modelled on the tower of the Konigsberg castle, which does not exist any more.

 

 

Practical info

- sightseeing is free

- sightseeing ban during religious service

- the closest free parking lot for coaches – 500 m. away (Nowowiejskiego Street); another parking lot - at Urania Hall

- sightseeing time- around 30 min.

 

Bibliography

Kopiczko A., Kościoły i kaplice w Olsztynie, Olsztyn 2000

Kopiczko A., Żołnierkiewicz J., Dzieje kościoła i parafii Najświętszego Serca Pana Jezusa w Olsztynie 1903-2003, Olsztyn 2003