Collegiate Church of St Adalbert and St Catherine in Jaworzno

The Collegiate Church of St Adalbert and St Catherine stands in the centre of Jaworzno. The brick parish church was built in 1532, but has been rebuilt many times since, most recently in the 1990s. Since 1997 it has been the seat of the Jaworzno Collegiate Chapter. The patrons of the church are St Adalbert and St Catherine of Alexandria.

Successive rebuildings

The original brick church of 1532 changed its appearance several times. In 1833 it was rebuilt in the Neoclassical style to a design by August Plasqude. The tower standing on the west side was then pulled down and a new one built, set into the facade. The next rebuilding design was made in 1937 by Zygmunt Gawlik, and the work was carried out in 1937-1939 and 1945-1963. In 1970-1975 the church was extended to a design by Wiktor Zin.

The chancel and transept, built in 1936-1939 to a design by Stanisław Gergovich, are the historic part of the collegiate church. This part has been entered in the municipal register of monuments of the town of Jaworzno.

Altar, painting and stained glass

The church contains a Baroque high altar of black marble, dated to the 17th century. It was brought in the 19th century from the Church of St Michael in Kraków, which the Austrian authorities had turned into barracks. In the altar is a copy of a painting of St Joseph painted in the second half of the 18th century. The church also holds the painting of Our Lady of Jaworzno (Passau), painted in 1666 in Naples and venerated as renowned for miracles.

On the front wall of the church is a triangular stained-glass window with an area of 177 m² and a height of 18.5 m, described as the largest stained-glass window of this shape in Europe. Its central figure is St Adalbert. It was designed by Jerzy Skąpski and made by the studio of Anna and Ireneusz Zarzycki in Kraków in 1997, for the millennium of the death of St Adalbert.

Nearby

The collegiate church stands by the Main Market Square in Jaworzno, only a few hundred metres from the Jaworzno Town Museum. Further away, a few kilometres off, are, among others, the brine graduation tower and the arboretum in Gródek Park.

Practical information

• Location: plac Świętego Jana in Jaworzno, in the town centre.
• The church is an active parish church, so it is worth planning a visit around services. Current information is on the parish website (kolegiata.jaworzno.pl).
• It is about 100 m from here to the Main Market Square and about 300 m to the Jaworzno Town Museum.