Co-Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Żywiec

The Co-Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary stands on Zamkowa Street in the centre of Żywiec. The Gothic church from the 15th century, extended several times, has a tower with a Renaissance gallery and Baroque interior furnishings. Since 1992 it has been a co-cathedral of the Bielsko-Żywiec diocese, and earlier it was a parish church.

How the church grew over five centuries

The church was built in the first half of the 15th century with funds from the Komorowski family of the Korczak coat of arms, not long after the founding of Żywiec. In 1515-1542 the walls were raised and the chancel and nave extended, and the enlarged church was blessed in 1547 by Erasmus Ciołek, Bishop of Kraków.

In 1582-1583 the nave was enlarged and the tower added. The tower was raised, with a columned gallery, by Jan Ricci, who came from Italy and lived in Opava. In 1596-1608 the Chapel of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was added, and in 1639 the Chapel of the Garden of Gethsemane.

In 1711 a fire destroyed the church to a considerable extent; rebuilding lasted until 1712. The tower was renovated in 1745, when its helmet was built. Lightning damaged the tower in 1776, and it was rebuilt only in 1821.

In 1929 the Habsburg family burial chapel was built, designed by Franciszek Mączyński. In 1930 the interior received new polychrome decoration by Tadeusz Korpal of Wieliczka. The status of co-cathedral was granted to the church in 1992 by a bull of John Paul II that established the Bielsko-Żywiec diocese.

The tower and the exterior

The tower is square in plan, with sides of 10.5 m. Without the helmet it measures 45 m, with the helmet 60 m, not counting the orb and cross. Up to a height of 27.5 m it is of rough stone, above that of brick, and its seventh storey is formed by an arcaded gallery with Ionic columns.

On the tower portal is the Korczak coat of arms in a laurel wreath. On the third storey, cannonballs dating from the time of the Swedish Deluge were set into the wall in 1924. Two clock bells hang in the tower, one from 1569 and the other from 1744, cast in Brno.

The walls of the nave and chancel are supported by buttresses, and stone portals with Tuscan pilasters lead into the nave from the north and south. According to the heritage register the church is of brick and Gothic, entered in the register under number A-523 in 1987.

What is inside

The nave is 26.7 m long and 10.5 m wide, and the chancel with an apse is 15 m long and 7.5 m wide. Part of the nave has a net vault, the rest a barrel vault with lunettes.

The high altar was made in 1724 to a design by Paweł Giżycki. It was made by the woodcarver Maciej Weissman with his son Józef from Frýdek. In the centre stands a figure of the Immaculate Virgin Mary.

In the left side altar there is a late Gothic wooden relief of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary from around 1500. The altar is closed by wings with late Baroque paintings from 1643, by Tomasz Dolabella. The wooden Régence-style pulpit dates from 1748.

In the Chapel of the Assumption stands a font with a semicircular bowl of Pińczów stone dated 1583. In the chancel are Baroque choir stalls from 1708-1725, decorated with reliefs of scenes from the life of Mary and the Passion of Christ. Next to the high altar hangs a wooden crucifix from around 1400, from the Church of the Holy Cross.

In the neighbourhood

The church stands right by the castle in Żywiec. A few hundred metres away lie the Żywiec City Museum and the Market Square in Żywiec, and a little further the Church of St Florian. It is about 3.5 km as the crow flies to the Żywiec Brewery Museum.

Practical information

• Address: Zamkowa 6, 34-300 Żywiec (the parish office is at the same address).
• The parish website has a separate tab about entries to the tower and an online broadcast from the church; check the visiting rules and hours before your visit.
• It is an active church, and visiting is restricted during services.