It took me a couple of attempts to visit Basilica of St Francis in Krakow. I heard it had a spectacular window by Stanislaw Wyspianski, one of Poland foremost artists, and had seen it the previous evening from the outside when the church was lit up. It was my first port of call on Saturday morning and I had no sooner wandered in the door when the organ piped up, followed by a procession of priests, then a great many monks and they were all followed by a coffin. Perhaps, I thought, not a great time to be a tourist there, so I went away and came back later.
The church itself is rather old, being built between 1237 and 1269, but it's main attraction is it's interior which dates from the turn of the 20th century. Not only did they ask Mr Wyspianski to design a few windows but they let him loose on the whole church and what they got was walls and roofs full of rainbows and flowers and stars and all sorts of other designs and paintings. Quite, quite magnificant.
And this is the window I had expected to be the churches' piece de resistance, and it was, but in all honesty I would say that the whole church was a piece de resistance amongst the other churches I saw in Krakow.
4 comments:
This is very beautiful stuff, thanks for sharing it. Interesting to have that alongside the Baroque churches and notice how different my reaction is to each style - this one is much more my cup of tea, perhaps because it is more contemporary.
Gorgeous shots, Sandy! Thanks for the tour.
what a stunningly beautiful church!
This is more my cup of tea too - especially glass wise, I'm finding myself likeing modern much more often now. And the painted walls are just a treat here.
Thank you for commenting all.
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