Convent of the Visitation Women (Warsaw)
The monastery complex of the Visitantinnen in Warsaw (Polish: Warszawski klasztor sióstr wizytek ) is the oldest monastery building of the Salesian order in Poland. It has been operated by the nuns as a contemplative convent for around 350 years and is located above the Vistula embankment at Krakowskie Przedmieście 34 on the historic Warsaw Royal Wing .
history
At the invitation of Luisa Maria Gonzaga , wife of the Polish King John II Casimir , twelve French nuns of the Salesian Order came to Warsaw in the summer of 1654. With the support of the Queen, the Order was allocated a plot of land in the immediate vicinity of the former royal residence (now part of Warsaw University : Kazimierz Palace ) to build the monastery . The celestial closure of the enclosure in a building initially made of wood took place on August 9, 1654 in the presence of the royal couple. The first Polish woman to enter the monastery was Helena Warszewicka, who took the name of Luisa Maria. The following year, the members of the monastery had to leave their new home due to the Swedish invasion and temporarily moved to Głogówek with the royal court . In 1657 the nuns were again forced to leave their monastery - Warsaw was one of Tatars threatened attack.
At the beginning of the 1660s, the construction of a brick monastery building began. The Queen initially financed the construction of the east wing, which was completed in 1664. The further, step-by-step expansion of the monastery took place on the initiative of Sister Maria Konstancja Cantarina between 1670 and 1682. The north wing, part of the west wing and various farm buildings (granary and bakery) were built.
Due to the large number of sisters, two further institutions were founded from the Warsaw monastery towards the end of the 17th century - in 1681 in Krakow and in 1694 in Vilnius .
18th century
During the great epidemic in 1708-1709, most of the nuns moved to the court in Zawiszyn. Only ten sisters remained in Warsaw to run the monastery.
In 1727 an agreement was signed between the order and the architect Carlo Antonio Bay , according to which he was to build a church dedicated to the memory of Joseph for the meditation monastery . Two earlier church buildings had burned down. Construction of the Visitantinnen Church began on August 28, 1728 and was completed in 1765.
The following construction work on the monastery in the years 1782 to 1785 concerned the connection between the church and the monastery. They were arranged by the abbess Ludwika Helena Zborowska and led to the construction of a south wing and a connecting part with a staircase to the two-storey monastery choir, which is adjacent to the south side of the church presbytery.
19th century
The Polish partitions had a negative impact on the monastery. Church and monastery lost many valuable works of art as contributions to the Kościuszko uprising . From 1797 the monastery property was also confiscated several times . In 1807 the monastery was converted into a military hospital for the Napoleonic army ; the sisters had to move into the Benedictine convent in the new town for a year .
20th century
During the Second World War , the church and monastery were largely preserved despite the heavy bombing raids in 1939 and the destruction caused by and as a result of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. After the uprising, the inhabitants of the monastery were forced to leave it by the German occupation authorities. In 1949 the intervention of Jan Zachwatowicz and Aleksander Gieysztor saved the monastery from the demolition planned by the government and the military. A general renovation followed. The monastery is not open to tourists.
ensemble
The core building of the baroque monastery is built on an approximately rectangular floor plan and has an inner courtyard. It is partially surrounded by flatter side buildings. The baroque wooden crucifixion group dates from the first half of the 18th century. At the back to the edge of the embankment of the Vistula are the around 3500 square meters of the nuns' vegetable gardens. The Stanisław-Markiewicz viaduct of the Karowa ulica , which leads down the slope here, is located directly below the 3-meter-high wall that surrounds the entire site .
References and comments
- ↑ according to Information Church of St. Joseph, Bridegroom of Mary ( Memento of the original from June 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from Warsawtour.pl , the official website of the City of Warsaw ( Warsaw Tourist Office ), accessed on July 10, 2012
- ↑ Aleksander Gieysztor (1916–1999) was a Polish historian and holder of the White Eagle Order
literature
- Peter H. Baumgarten (Head), Poland. Baedeker Allianz travel guide . Verlag Karl Baedeker, ISBN 3-87504-542-4 , Ostfildern 1993, p. 415
- Julius A. Chroscicki and Andrzej Rottermund, Architectural Atlas of Warsaw , 1st edition, Arkady, Warsaw 1978, p. 82
- Janusz Durko, album Warszawski / Warsaw album. The image of the city according to the collections in the Historical Museum of the capital Warsaw , German-Polish edition, Agencja Reklamowo-Wydawnicza A. Grzegorczyk, ISBN 83-86902-73-6 , Warsaw 2000, p. 66
- J. Klecel, 400 Lat Zakonu Nawiedzenia NMP , 24-page brochure of the Order (in Polish), printed by Zakłady Graficzne Taurus, Warsaw, undated
- Janina Rukowska, Travel Guide Warsaw and Surroundings , 3rd edition, ISBN 83-217-2380-2 , Sport i Turystyka, Warsaw 1982, p. 74
- Reinhold Vetter, Between Wisła / Vistula, Bug and Karpaty / Carpathian Mountains . in: Poland. History, art and landscape of an ancient European cultural nation . DuMont Art Travel Guide, 3rd edition, DuMont Buchverlag, ISBN 3-7701-2023-X , Cologne 1991, pp. 159f.
Web links
- Warsaw Order of Visitation Sisters website (in Polish)
Coordinates: 52 ° 14 ′ 29.7 " N , 21 ° 1 ′ 4.1" E