Architecture and furnishings of the church and monastery of the Discalced Carmelites in Wiśnicz

Abstract

Founded in Wisnicz by Stanisław Lubomirski (1582–1649), Christ the Saviour church and monastery of the Discalced Carmelites was a votive offering of thanks for the victory at Chocim and a happy ending of the Polish-Turkish war in 1621. The monastery was built near the Lubomirskis’ ancestral castle in Wiśnicz according to the design by Maciej Tripoli between 1622 and 1635. Consecrated on 1 July 1635, both the abbey church, dedicated to Christ the Saviour, as well as the monastery were very richly furnished. The church, built according to the rules of the Carmelite Order, was a brick building, on the plan of the Latin cross with the south facing a two-span presbytery and a one-nave, twospan main body, flanked by a row of side chapels, interconnected by narrow passages and open to the main nave with arcades enclosed by archivolts and sustained by pillars. The interior was decorated with rich stucco decoration, made by John the Baptist Falconi, composed, among others, of panoplies of Turkish motifs, which directly referred to the victory at Chocim. Under the arms of the transepth the Lubomirskis ancestral mausoleum with the altar of the Crucifixion was built. Unfortunately, neither the rich furnishings of the church, nor the temple, destroyed by the German occupation in 1940–1942, survived the turmoil of history and was destroyed by the Nazis in 1940–1942. The monastery, adjacent to the church on the south and west, was a brick building with a basement. It was built in early Baroque style on the set of a regular square with dimensions 61 by 62 m, with three internal courtyards and cross and tunnel vaulted interior. The monastery building, upon the dissolution of the order by Emperor Joseph II in 1783 was converted into a prison.