Foundation
The church of St. Casimir, located in New Town Square in Warsaw, is an integral part of the monastery object of the Benedictine Nuns of the Blessed Sacrament. It was funded by Queen Marie Casimire – a mark of gratitude for the victory of the King over the Turks near Vienna. The Marie Casimire project was commissioned to an outstanding Dutch architect Tylman from Gameren, who was brought to Poland by Prince Lubomirski. The King and the Queen laid the foundation stone in January 1688. On June 27th, the day taking over the foundation by nuns from France, the church was not yet completed, but It was already possible to celebrate the liturgy and store the Blessed Sacrament.
Architecture
The baroque church of Benedictine Nuns of the Blessed Sacrament can be seen from all sides thanks to its location. From the side of the market, it dominates among the more distant and lower city buildings. From the Vistula side, the view of the church is a clear accent in a long panorama on the embankment as the only structure with a dome and a lantern.
In the central part of the church, built on the projection of an uneven -sided octagon and covered with a dome with a lantern, four lower arms of the church are adjacent to a rectangular projection, forming a cross and covered with gable roofs with triangular peaks. The division of the central part according to the longer and short sides of the octagon passes higher, dividing the dome and a lantern into eight uneven parts.
The three levels of the church, separated by cornices, are clearly marked: the lowest with the arms of the church and the narrow walls of the central part, above the tambur and the attic of the tambur, above it a dome with a lantern covered with a roof with a broken line and concave slopes. The roof is crowned with a spherical orb, crown and cross. The altars are located in three arms of the Greek cross, which creates the church plan, the fourth front entrance and two circular staircases are placed in the thickness of the wall.
The outer decoration of the church is primarily architectural divisions, created by Doric pilasters without triglphs and kanella with full beam, set on high pedestals. The wall solution is frame: corners include corner semi -pillars, broken pilasters are placed in the wall bends. The front wall is wider and higher, with double pilasters standing on connected pedestals. The pilaster division of the facade passes through tympanums. Archives on imposts with the Doric head profile, covering the portal, is stretched between the pilasters in the front facade. The architectural decoration in the tambour is made up of lizens, in the attic of the panels and corner strips, in the lantern – pilasters, but without heads.
The stucco-sculptural decoration outside the church is focused on the front wall and the lantern. Two coat of arms – Sobieski and d’Arqien – under the Crown in the tympanum. The broken pilasters of the lanterns were finished with the heads of angels, while the circular linings are decorated with stone chalices with a host.
The middle part also dominates inside the church. The scheme of four triumphal arches with composite pilasters set on a high pedestal can be clearly seen in the project. There are four narrow walls between the four arcades. This division of the lower part goes higher and divides the bowl of the dome of the edges radially into four wider and narrower fields. The side arms of the church are separated by four arcades and have barrel vaults with lunettes. The diagram of the triumphal arch in the interior corresponded to the symbolic meaning of the Church, which was to be a monument to the war victory. The facade introduced a Roman-Doric order without triglyphs and kanes, and inside-composite with Doric imposts. They were specially selected because of their symbolic significance: Doric is associated with bravery, and composite with the glorification of power. In all tympanums, coat of arms under the royal crowns are placed, and next to the shields symbols of victory and glorification of power: in the front tympanum – corners of abundance, in the side – bay and palm branches, in the highest tympanum under the dome there are only crowns and palm leaves. A decoration of iron leaves with an oak leaves was made under all crosses, which were also a symbol of victory.
Increasing elevation of the dome of the church made the body of its central part to the type of Polish mausolens, erected for many years. They were a central mausolea, covered with a dome, slender, vertical and often, octagonal in plan, which resembled a symbolic relationship with the number of eight, meaning in this case, perfection and resurrection.
Stanisław Mossakowski, when analyzing the architecture of the church of the Sacrament, said that the composition of the block resembles a modern Renaissance tabernacle type in the form of a tempietto.
The architecture of the church is very well thought out as to the meaning, it is to represent, very transparent in the composition, and extremely bright inside. Initially, the church illuminated 28 windows. The light in the church was dispersed, which is beneficial for existing painting compositions and modeling cornices and profiles. The color white dominated the interior. The main altar of Dębnicki marble was made after 1695. A beautiful carved wooden tabernacle, brought by sisters from France, stood in the church until 1769. The consecration was performed by the Bishop of Poznań, Bartłomiej Tarło, on June 16, 1715. To commemorate this ceremony, a plaque made of Dębnik marble was placed above the door to the sacristy.
Painting
The polychrome behind the main altar, created by an unknown author, was made before 1701 and depicted the sky with clouds and angels. At the top, among the open clouds, there was a stained glass window depicting the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. In the rich polychrome of the church, covering the walls behind the side altars and the diagonal walls of the church interior and the dome, typical Baroque types of decorative painting were used: perspective illusionism with the sky and illusionistic architecture, as well as frescoes included in frames and extending beyond them. The frescoes were restored and repainted many times.
The church’s painting decoration was complemented by three large oil easel paintings. In the presbytery, opposite the grate, there was a painting painted on canvas, depicting the Gathering of Manna by the Israelites. By the left altar there was a painting of St, Kazimierz, the patron saint of the church. By the right, a painting of Our Lady with St. Benedict and the saints of the Benedictine Order. All polychrome and paintings in the church and sacristy were destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising.
Sculpture
The pulpit was built around 1720. It was made of linden wood, polychrome and gilded, in the Baroque style. Its decoration consisted of two parts: the bowl was covered with large leaves with soft lines, on the front wall there was a carved mandylion – a scarf with the image of Christ’s face, the upper ends of which were framed by two angels, simultaneously supporting a tablet with the Ten Commandments. The upper part of the pulpit, the door and the canopy were surrounded by clouds constituting the background for the Eye of Providence, from which the rays spread.
After the destruction of the church in 1944, only a few fragments remained of the pulpit.
The tombstone monument of Karolina de Bouillon, in the Rococo style, was made in Dresden in 1745-1746 by Lorenzo Mattielli. The monument was placed in a niche between the pilasters on the side wall next to the altar of Our Lady. The architectural frame is formed by an archivolt based on pilaster imposts on which vases with burning candles stand. In the upper part of the pilasters there are skulls and crossbones against the background of draperies. The sculptural decoration consists of three parts: a richly depicted sarcophagus, a plaque on a pedestal and a medallion. The medallion, made of white marble, shows a bas-relief bust of a beautiful woman with a slightly haughty look, turned in profile to the nearest altar. The black garland surrounding the portrait does not resemble plant motifs, but is rather a symbol of the tears shed by the deceased during her life full of suffering. The medallion rests on the heads of two goats, which constitute the end of the sarcophagus. On it, on the white front surface in the shape of a trapezoid, there is a royal crown and a broken shield seen from the side – the Sobieski family’s coat of arms. The rupture marks the end of the royal family, which ended with Caroline’s death. A realistically depicted female figure leans against the sarcophagus with her hands clasped in a mournful gesture. At her feet there is a large white medallion with the coat of arms of Poland and Lithuania. The central part of the medallion – which should have included the coat of arms of the then reigning King Augustus III – was deliberately obscured to highlight Poland’s pain. A small putto on the left side embraces the sarcophagus and rests on the prince’s miter, which is the end of the de Bouillon family’s cartouche: Tour d’Auvergne.
This monument, seriously damaged in 1944, was reconstructed. It is worth mentioning here that not only the Duchess de Bouillon was buried in the church crypt, but also the two-year-old son of King John III and the king’s granddaughter, the daughter of Prince James.
A late Baroque tombstone of Maria Józefa Sobieska, a Benedictine oblate and the benefactress of the monastery church, located at the altar of St. Casimir, symmetrically with the monument to the Duchess de Bouillon, was funded by Teodor Wessel in 1762. The author of the design was probably Jakub Fontana, the contractor – Jan Chrysostom Redler. It had no architectural setting, it was designed as a sculptural composition with a line narrowing towards the top. The base was characterized by a soft line bent forward in the middle and on the sides, the higher part with a line bent in the same way, framed by volutes on the sides, framed the inscription board. On it there is a part of the sarcophagus, with the shorter side facing the viewer, and a cartouche with the coats of arms of Janina and Rogala. The heraldic theme was complemented by a princely crown topped with a ball and a cross placed next to the sarcophagus. On the other side, there was a crying putto with an extinguished torch leaning against the sarcophagus. On the sarcophagus there was an oval medallion made of white marble with a bas-relief showing a portrait of the princess in profile. Above it on the left side was an angel, holding a medallion with one hand and pointing to the sky with the other. The cloud incorporated into the decoration signified glory and was topped with six stars forming a circle and symbolizing happiness. The monument was made of marble in several colors, and the plaster technique was used in the cloud. The monument was destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising. The angel and the putto (partially reconstructed) were installed in the epitaph of those who died under the ruins of the church, the inscription board is located underground.
The marble tabernacle, decorated with silver, was made in 1768-1769. The silver decoration was made by the royal goldsmith, Antoni Schönmetzler.
The throne of the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament from 1775-1780 was made of marble, brass and silver. The casing of the tabernacle was bent on both sides and at the top was finished with a cornice with a wide frieze. Two triple candlesticks are placed symmetrically on the cornice, each supported by two kneeling angels. The monstrance was placed above the cornice, on a marble base; behind it was a window with gilded rays, thanks to which the Blessed Sacrament was also visible from the cloistered chapel. During the Warsaw Uprising, only the tabernacle door, angels and the Lamb from the throne of exposition survived (currently stored in the monastery).
The destruction and reconstruction of the church of Benedictine Nuns of the Blessed Sacrament
The church, which had been thoroughly renovated for the foundation’s anniversary in 1938, was destroyed by bombing on August 31, 1944. Approximately 1,000 civilians, 4 priests and 34 benedictine nuns of the Blessed Sacrament died under the rubble. The second bombing on September 1 was a retaliation for the sisters’ adamant attitude and could only have been intended to completely destroy the monument. The extent of the destruction of the church and monastery is best illustrated by photographs from 1945 and later years. The monastery complex was 80 to 90% destroyed.
The reconstruction of the church was not undertaken until 1947 by the Capital Reconstruction Office, which provided financial assistance. In 1948, clearing of rubble began, and at the beginning of 1949, construction work on the temple began. The reconstruction project was prepared by arch. M. Zachwatowiczowa based on inventory drawings made in 1925 by Maria Chodźkówna (Zachwatowicz), Alicja Preussówna and Maria Wroczyńska of the Department of Polish Architecture, Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw University of Technology, and on drawings from 1933 made by J. Bogusławski and Z. Malicki. Until 1952, the architectural supervision of the reconstruction was by Arch. M. Zachwatowiczowa, construction supervision was carried out by: arch. Feliks Kanclerz and then arch. Beata Trylińska. From 1951, our sister, architect Irena Michaela Walicka, was responsible for preparing drawing documentation and supervising the reconstruction of the church’s interior. In 1951, the monastery rebuilt the monastic choir using its own founds and put plaster in the presbytery, and also partially renovated the grate (1771-1774) separating the choir from the church. On January 1, 1952, the first Holy Mass was celebrated in the rebuilt church. The Holy Sacrament was transferred permanently to the church on July 7th. On December 4, 1952, the shell church, in a raw state, was handed over to the monastery, and it was put into use on February 7, 1953. In the years 1953-1957, Facade Works Enterprise carried out the facade works of the church and the monastery. Sister Irena Michaela Walicka then completed the necessary drawing documentation and conducted the architectural supervision.
The new interior furnishings were created slowly and, apart from the monument to the Duchess de Bouillon, they are different from those before the Warsaw Uprising. In 1956, an iron door with a glazed grille leading from the porch to the church was built, and a new eternal lamp was hung. The main altar was made in 1957, and the sheet metal openwork in the gaps between the railing and the altar were finished in 1975. The openwork featured an acanthus leaf motif.
In 1972, the design for the decoration of the wall behind the main altar was approved and completed in 1973. The oval glass opening in the wall is surrounded by clouds from which the heads of angels peek out. This decoration is made using the throw-on technique.
The side altar of St. Joseph in the left arm of the church was asperged by Bishop Jerzy Modzelewski on March 19, 1960. Above the mensa (made of Bolechowice marble), a baroque statue of Saint Joseph (made approximately in 1715-1730), is placed on a small support. This statue, donated to the monastery in 1865, survived the uprising. Before 1944, it was placed in the ante-choir.
The monument of the Duchess de Bouillon was restored to its original state in 1961.
At the altar of Our Lady (made of Bolechowice marble), located in the right arm of the church, there is a painting of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn, painted by Stanisław Komorowski. This altar was consecrated by Bishop Wacław Majewski on November 16, 1962.
The church basement was renovated from 1960-1962. A small sandstone altar was placed next to the pillar supporting the main altar. Above the altar, there was a wooden crucifix dating from the beginning of the 18th century, which was significantly damaged during the uprising. The altar was consecrated by Bishop Jerzy Modzelewski on September 4, 1962.
On May 19, 1973, Primate Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński reconsecrated the church, and the following year, on October 14th, he asperged a monument in honor of the fallen, located opposite the monument to the Duchess de Bouillon. The central part of this monument shows an image of the destruction of the church carved on granite according to a photograph from 1945. It is supported by a symbolic sarcophagus containing a box with sand from the church basement. The composition included a putto and an angel from the destroyed monument to Maria Józefa Sobieska, daughter-in-law of king John III Sobieski.
The interior design of the church is complemented by a built-in bas-relief of St. Casimir (1982) and bas-reliefs of St. Benedict and St. Scholastica (1987).
Although our church is one of the most beautiful temples in the capital, has a rich past and is a valuable monument of national culture, it is primarily – according to the founder’s intentions – a place of special worship of the Eucharist, a place of constant prayer. And we ask all visitors to our temple to take such a look.