St. John's Archcathedral (Warsaw) - Interior

Interior

The profuse Early Baroque decoration inside from the beginning of the 17th century and magnificent painting on the main altar by Palma il Giovane depicting Virgin and Child with St. John the Baptist and St. Stanisław were destroyed in German bombing of the church on August 17, 1944. The remains of the church were blown up by the Germans in November 1944. Only one wall that somehow managed to survive was all that was left of the six hundred year old edifice. This devastation of a Polish national monument was a part of the Planned destruction of Warsaw, which had officially begun after the collapse of the Warsaw Uprising.

The painting of the Virgin and Child.. was created in 1618 for King Sigismund III Vasa especially to place on the central altar of the St. John's Cathedral. As a masterpiece it was confiscated on Napoleon's order and transported to Paris. Retrieved by Warsaw authorities in 1820s after the Congress of Vienna. It survived many wars and the bombing of Warsaw since it was created, but did not survive the last one during World War II. Among the sculptures lost due to German bombardment the most worh mentioning was a marble bust of Jan Franciszek Bieliński, voivode of Malbork (died 1685), carved by Jean-Joseph Vinache.

The interior reconstruction design considerably differed from the pre-war Cathedral, taking it back in time to its raw Gothic look, because very little of the cathedral's original furnishings has been preserved. The Cathedral is a three-nave building, two aisles are the same height as the main nave. On the right side from the front a belfry is situated, a passage to Dziekania Street is situated underneath it. There is a pulpit from 1959, designed by Józef Trenarowski and stalls which are a replica of the destroyed baroque ones, founded by the king John III Sobieski. Moreover, there are many chapels, gravestones and epitaphs in the Cathedral. All left aisle is filled with numerous chapels. They are, in turn, from main altar: Baryczka Chapel, it ends the left aisle (it contains a wooden crucifix, regarded as the most precious element of the cathedral’s furnishings; it was brought from Nuremberg in 1539 by the merchant Jerzy Baryczka), The Chapel of Whipped Christ (the oldest chapel, it dates back to 15th century), The Baptistery (with a valuable baptismal, which dates back to 1631), The Chapel of John the Baptist and Saint Stanisław Chapel, from 15th century. Among the reconstructed elements of the original interior is the rococo altar in the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, so-called Literary Chapel, with an effigy of the Virgin Mary from the destroyed St. Andrew's Church at the Theatre Square, dating back the 17th century. The painting that once belonged to the Polish kings John II Casimir Vasa, Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki and John III Sobieski, was used during the battles.