St. John´s Archcathedral

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St. John’s Cathedral in Warsaw is the seat of the Archdiocese. It stands in the middle of the Old Town, in the immediate vicinity of the Market Square and the Royal Castle.

This is a touristic overview of the cathedral. For a detailed description, please click the box below.

You can visit this and many more churches on our special church tour. For full details and a booking form, please click the box below.

ciz.muzeumwarszawy.pl (only pl)

Cathedrals are generally imagined to be more imposing than the cathedral in Warsaw. It is one of the churches that you have to imagine rather as a cathedral.

The first wooden church stood here as early as the 13th century and was built when the city was founded. Towards the end of the 14th century, it was converted into a new building made of stone (gothik).

It was not until 1798 that the church was raised to the status of a cathedral. Warsaw became an episcopal city. In 1818 the diocese of Warsaw became an archbishopric. As a result, the two royal coronations of Stanisław I Leszczyński in 1704 and the last Polish king Stanisław II. August Poniatowski in 1763 took place in a parish church.

On 3 May 1791, the oath of allegiance to the first modern constitution in Europe took place in the church.

The English neo-Gothic form it had until the Warsaw Uprising in 1944 was given to it in the second half of the 19th century.

In 1960, the cathedral was elevated to basilica minor.

Reconstruction of the cathedral, which had been destroyed down to its foundations, began in 1947 and was completed in 1954. As it was not possible to follow the neo-Gothic appearance, it was decided to imitate the Mazovian Gothic style.

Many famous personalities have their final resting place in the crypts. Among them were the last princes of Mazovia, President Gabriel Narutowicz, Prime Minister and world-famous pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, Cardinal Jozef Glemp, Nobel Prize winner for literature Henryk Sienkiewicz, painter Marcello Bacciarelli and King Stanisław II. August Poniatowski (symbolic tomb). 

Swietojanska Street is very bumpy and you have to climb three flights of stairs to get to the nave. Sometimes there is a provided ramp for wheelchair users.