Łowicz Cathedral: A Baroque Roman Catholic Cathedral in Poland
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Poland
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Kingdom of Poland, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Cathedral
On this page18 sections
History
Łowicz Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church in Łowicz, Poland, founded as a wooden church in 1100 and Baroque in its present architectural character. The early church was probably founded by Duke Władysław I Herman, a medieval ruler of Poland, and 1100 is also given as its consecration date. A brick Gothic church was built around 1355.
From church to collegiate foundation
From 1136, Łowicz belonged to the archbishops of Gniezno, who often lived there. On 25 April 1433, Archbishop Wojciech Jastrzębiec raised the church to collegiate status, meaning it was served by a community of clergy organized as a chapter. A chapter was established, along with a branch of the Kraków Academy, the medieval university later known as the Jagiellonian University.
The church became the burial place of 12 archbishops of Gniezno who also held the office of primate of Poland. These senior church leaders served as interreges, temporary heads of state between monarchs. From 1572, during periods without a monarch, the church temporarily served as the Commonwealth’s foremost church.
Baroque remodelling and devotion
Primate Henryk Firlej began a Baroque remodelling in 1625, and Primate Maciej Łubieński continued the work. Primate Mikołaj Prażmowski reconsecrated and rededicated the church on 14 October 1668. The image of Our Lady of Łowicz has been venerated there since 1719. On 5 October 2002, Archbishop Józef Kowalczyk crowned the image, assisted by Łowicz Bishop Alojzy Orszulik.
Damage and cathedral status
The church suffered severe damage during the 1939 Battle of the Bzura and was restored after the war. On 25 March 1992, Pope John Paul II established the Diocese of Łowicz, a territorial church jurisdiction overseen by a bishop, and elevated the collegiate church to cathedral status. During a visit to Łowicz on 14 June 1999, he granted it the title of minor basilica, an honorific distinction bestowed by the pope. The cathedral entered Poland’s list of Monuments of History, a high-level heritage designation, on 13 November 2012.
Remains
Plan and exterior
The east-oriented church has three aisles and a body nearly square in plan. Its two-towered façade faces west, while the presbytery, the part of a church around the main altar, ends in a polygonal shape and is framed by sacristy annexes. The presbytery has two bays, or structural divisions; the main nave has five, and each side aisle has four. The Gethsemane Chapel is attached to the east of the presbytery and dates to the second half of the eighteenth century. Along the north side are the Komorowski Chapel and the vicars’ sacristy, with the chapter house, a meeting room for the clergy chapter, above it. On the opposite side are the Uchański Chapel and the canons’ sacristy, with the treasury above.
The three-part façade has two levels divided by a horizontal entablature. Pilasters, shallow column-like projections, are arranged across the façade, which is crowned by a pediment with volutes, or spiral scroll forms. Above the Baroque entrance is a 1652 foundation plaque for the collegiate church bearing the arms of Primate Maciej Łubieński. The western bay of the nave holds a music gallery between the towers, supported by a large semi-elliptical arch. Piers supporting arches separate the side aisles from the nave. Pilasters on the presbytery walls and nave piers support an entablature decorated with stucco.
Interior structure
The cathedral’s organ has 42 stops, which control sets of pipes, and three keyboards. The vault above the Blessed Sacrament Chapel in the north aisle bears the arms of Władysław Aleksander Łubieński, Archbishop of Gniezno.
Chapels
Gethsemane Chapel
This chapel, attached to the east of the presbytery, dates to the second half of the eighteenth century.
Lipski Chapel
Also called the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, it was built between 1641 and 1647 in honour of Primate Jan Lipski. Jakub Fontana designed its altar, and Adam Swach painted its decoration. The chapel also contains a Corpus Christi altar.
Prażmowski Chapel
Located in the north aisle, this chapel contains a Baroque epitaph commemorating Primate Mikołaj Prażmowski and two slabs covering burial crypts.
Komorowski Chapel
Also known as the Chapel of the Crucified Jesus, it was built in 1761 in a late Baroque design by Jakub Fontana. Inside are a sixteenth-century crucifix and the tomb of Primate Adam Komorowski, attributed to Jan Chryzostom Redler.
Uchański Chapel
Built between 1575 and 1580 by Jan Michałowicz of Urzędów, the chapel was remodelled in the Classical style by Efraim Szreger in 1782. Its former Mannerist tomb of Primate Jakub Uchański, made by Michałowicz, is now outside the chapel. After the Commonwealth’s victory at Berestechko in 1651, a major battle between Commonwealth and Cossack-Tatar forces during the Khmelnytsky Uprising, Łubieński established a votive altar here. The marble altar and a silver-gilt coffin for the relics of St Victoria were installed that year. The saint’s head is held in a gold reliquary made by Jan Szefler.
Wężyk Chapel
Built between 1635 and 1640 in honour of Primate Jan Wężyk, this chapel has altars to St John of Nepomuk and St Anne, designed by Karol Bay.
Tarnowski Chapel
This chapel was built between 1609 and 1611. It contains a Renaissance tomb of Piotr Tarnowski, the father of Primate Jan Tarnowski, and a triptych, a three-panel artwork. Its altar sculptures were made after 1604 by Willem van den Blocke, a sculptor from Gdańsk.
Burials and devotional works
Crypts
The crypts hold Henryk Firlej’s tin sarcophagus and the burials of Andrzej Leszczyński and Wacław Leszczyński. Jan Przerębski is considered likely to have been buried there. Crypts that had remained undisturbed were opened around 2024.
Our Lady of Łowicz and other altars
Adam Swach, a painter from Poznań, painted the image of Our Lady of Łowicz. It depicts Mary in the type known as Our Lady of the Snows, also called Salus Populi Romani, a title meaning “Salvation of the Roman People” and associated with a celebrated Marian image in Rome. Other interior features include an altar to Our Lady of Łowicz, an altar to St Joseph and an altar to St Victoria.
