St. John the Baptist Cathedral (Bazylika Archikatedralna Św. Jana Chrzciciela), on the right and
Jesuit Church (Kosciol Jezuitów) on the left.





Built at the behest of King Zygmunt III Waza’s confessor, Piotr Skarga, this lovely little Renaissance church was constructed between 1609 and 1626 for the city’s Jesuit community. Having had something of a varied and colourful history to say the least, it suffered at the hands of the Swedes in the latter half of the 17th century, who looted it of its entire contents, and it even spent time as a storehouse during the Partitions. Also known as the Holy Mother of Grace Church after the city’s patron saint, the church was returned to the Jesuits at the end of WWI only to be destroyed by the Germans in 1944. Rebuilt between 1948 and 1957, the church has a few remaining original interior parts - of particular interest is the 17th-century picture of the Holy Mother herself. The crypt, not open to visitors, contains the remains of Prince Karol Ferdynand Waza and Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski (1595-1640), the Jesuit priest, poet and court preacher to King Władysław IV.