Field Cathedral of the Polish Army

Ogólne informacje

The Field Cathedral of the Polish Army is the main garrison church of Warsaw and the representative cathedral of the entire Polish Army. In the past the church served a variety of communities and roles: it used to be the church of the Collegium Nobilium and in the 19th century was also turned into a Russian Orthodox church. Currently all major military religious feasts in Warsaw are held there.It is located on Długa Street 13/15, opposite the Heroes of the Warsaw Uprising Monument and Krasiński Square, close to Warsaw's Old Town.HistoryIn the 17th century the Piarist friars were given a royal privilege to obtain a large parcel to the west of Warsaw's Old Town. The area, located along the newly paved Miodowa Street, was close to the contemporary city centre, but at the same time offered much more space than in densely populated town. The monks founded the Collegium Nobilium, one of the most notable schools of the epoch and a predecessor to the Warsaw University. In 1660 they also started the construction of a new church that would serve both the students and their teachers, designed most probably by Constantino Tencalla, an Italian architect active in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the time.