The Dominican monastery with the Church of the Holy Trinity. The beginnings of the monastery
reach back to the year 1222, when Bishop Iwo Odrowaz gave the former parish church to monks
invited from Bologna. A relic from this period is a Romanesque refectory.
The construction of a
new early Gothic church was probably begun after the Tatar raid of 1241. Originally based on a
hall scheme, it was extended and rebuilt as a three-aisled basilica in the second half of 14th
century and the 15th century.
The great prestige enjoyed by the order of St Dominic made the
church of the Holy Trinity into one of the grandest in Krakow. Both the church itself, and the
monastery cloisters filled with countless number of tombs, and the set of burial chapels of the
16th and 17th centuries was second only to the Wawel Cathedral necropolis.
The great fire of 1850 brought an end to the original splendour of the Dominican Church, damaging its architecture and
almost completely destroying the furnishings.
The present main nave and the presbytery are covered by the same roof, terminating in the
west and east in stepped gables. The slender stepped gable visible from the Dominikañski Square
is the most characteristic view of the present church. In this construction, brick body of the
Gothic building contrasts with the adjoining chapels, especially from the side facing
Dominikañska street. Inside neo-gothic vestibule, there's an amazing late 14th century stone
portal richly ornamented with carved floral motifs.
The interior of the church gives an
impression of emptiness and coldness. The opulence and formal variety of original altars
disappeared with the 1850 fire and was replaced by a uniform neo-Gothic decoration.
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