Franciscan Monastery in Toruń: A Baroque Friary in Podgórze
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.7
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Poland
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Monastery
On this page4 sections
History
The Franciscan Monastery in Toruń, Poland, is a Baroque monastery in Podgórze, founded in the 17th century together with the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. It was established for the Order of Friars Minor, the Catholic religious order commonly known as the Franciscans.
Foundation in Podgórze
Permission to establish the monastery was issued in 1631. Stanisław Sokołowski, the castellan of Bydgoszcz, a senior official responsible for administering a castle and its surrounding district, sought approval in 1642. Formal approval followed on 7 December 1643.
The friary was first intended for Toruń itself, but opposition from the city’s Protestant council prevented that plan. The foundation was therefore moved across the Vistula to Podgórze. Sokołowski became the founder of both the monastery and the church.
Construction began in 1644, when Father Ignacy Mierczyński laid the foundations of the church and monastery. Work was delayed by Sokołowski’s sudden death and by the Swedish Deluge, the Swedish invasion and occupation of large parts of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Second Northern War, especially from 1655 to 1660. The principal part of the complex was in use by 1659, the year in which the church was consecrated, or formally dedicated for worship.
Dissolution and later use
A royal edict of 30 October 1810 ordered the dissolution of monasteries. In 1813, valuable furnishings from St Anne’s Church were transferred to the monastery after that church burned on 21 January during a fire in Podgórze. The monastery later housed a school.
An edict issued in 1832 suppressed the Franciscan order, although the friars remained in the building until 1834. Inventories of the monastery and the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul were made on 17 January 1818 and 18 August 1834. The Franciscans returned to Podgórze in 1987 and began repair and restoration work.
The monastery and church are entered in the register of historic monuments under no. A/402, dated 13 July 1936. They are also listed in the municipal register of historic monuments under no. 2352.
Remains
The surviving site consists of a Baroque monastery building associated with the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Podgórze. The monastery was connected to the friars’ choir, located on the church’s upper floor, linking the religious community’s building with the church interior.
