Catholic church of St. Martin (Warsaw)

The church of St. Martin arose in 1353 together with the adjoining Augustinian monastery and the hospital of the Holy Spirit inside the house at the behest of Zemovit III , Prince of Mazovia , and his wife Euphemia. In 1571, the famous Wojciech Ochko became a doctor in a hospital. The church itself, being stone and in the Gothic style, was erected at the turn of the XIV and XV centuries. ^{[1] The} entrance to the church was located on the city side, and not from Pivna Street, as it is today. There were 3 altars in the room: the main altar of St. Martin and the side altars of the Holy Spirit and St. Dorothea.

In the XVII century, on the site of the Augustinian monastery cemetery, sessions of the local Mazovian parliament were held. ^[1] After several fires that destroyed the church in the 15th and 17th centuries, the church was rebuilt in the Baroque style by Italian Giovanni Spinola. Also at this time it was reoriented, the main entrance was now located from the side of Pivna Street, and the main altar was moved to the southwestern part of the building. ^[1] In the 17th century, the Augustinians kept in the church an orchestra playing in it. Inside the church, Adam Yarzhebsky, a musician and composer at the court of the kings of the Vasa dynasty, was buried.

The church was reconstructed around 1744 according to the project of Karol Bai, strongly reminiscent of the architecture of the church of business cards in the same Bai. The wavy facade, the so-called molten sugar , is made in the rococo style . The main altar was also created according to the plan of Bai with sculptures by Jan Jerzy Plersch in 1751 . Late bar interior decoration was destroyed in 1944, only part of the burned crucifix was preserved. After the war, the interior was restored in detail according to the design of the sister Alma Skshidlevskaya, and the surviving part of the crucifix is ​​included in the new crucifix in a modern style. In the 1980s, the church became a meeting place for politicians opposed to the communist regime.

The facade of the church belongs to the Baroque style , while the interior is modern. The rich furniture in the early Baroque style, created in the 1630s by Jan Henel (sculptor of King Vladislav IV ) together with the Rococo jewelry of the 1750s, was destroyed by the Germans following the Warsaw Uprising . ^[1] The church was a ruin and was restored at the end of World War II . Inside the church, at the end of the right nave, is the chapel of Our Lady of Consolation with a copy of the 15th century painting, and at the end of the left nave is the chapel of Jesus Christ. ^[1] In addition, the sanctuary has the Chapel of St. Francis with the most valuable element of the interior of the church - a polychrome figure of the Virgin Mary with a baby. ^[one]

• (Polish) Warszawa w latach 1526-1795 (Warsaw in 1526-1795) / Stefan Kieniewicz. - Warsaw, 1984. - ISBN ISBN 83-01033-23-1 .

• Description and images of the church
• Images of the church .