Discovering Churches and Much More in Wroclaw, Poland

Poland is considered a Catholic nation. In 2021 71% of the population identified as Catholic. Their hero in the church is Pope John Paul II who as a Pole was the first non-Italian pope in many years. In Wroclaw it is obvious that religion plays a significant role in the life of the people. There seems to be a Catholic Church around every corner. On our second day in Wroclaw we encountered a number of churches, not all by design.

When we started our day, we headed to Market Hall which is a large public market space. We had to walk a bit from the tram stop. Unsurprisingly, we passed by a few churches on our way to Market Hall. The first one was the Church of St. Matthias. This was a brick building which we were able to enter. Inside, the church was a fairly simple church for a Catholic church. What struck me were the windows. Much like the St. Elizabeth Church which we saw yesterday, the windows had a very contemporary feel to them. The art seemed to have a message not just tell the Bible story. I’m just not sure what that message was.

Not far down the street we came to a very large church. The Church of St. Vincent is the cathedral church for the Greek Catholic Church. The original building was badly damaged in the war so it has seen a major reconstruction since then. The Franciscans had a monastery here before it became a church. Today it has connection to the Eastern Orthodox churches. I was excited to see the church and was hoping to visit the sanctuary, but the doors were locked. This was strike 2 of visiting an Orthodox church.

Across the street from the Church of St. Vincent is the Market Hall which was our original destination. It is another solid brick building. Inside there are large concrete arches holding the building up. On the main floor are a number of areas to buy groceries from vegetables to spices to meats. Farther back is a large area for flowers. Quite a few shops here sold large funeral type arrangements. It seemed family members would place these large arrangements on the graves of family members. Above us around the perimeter of the hall a second floor contains a variety of small shops. Markets are always an interesting cultural experience.

Leaving the market we crossed a bridge that took us over to an island in the Oder River. Some refer to it as Cathedral Island. Two churches stand on the island across from each other. On the right as we walked by sits the Church of Our Lady on the Sand. it is another imposing brick Catholic Church. We might have tried to enter the sanctuary, but there was a man there studying the door for some reason so we walked on by. Because it was so close to the narrow road in front I could not get a photo.

On the opposite side of the street is The Orthodox Parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius. This presented another opportunity to see the inside of an Orthodox church. However, once again a locked door made sure that didn’t happen. That was the third strike for me.

On the other side of the Church of Our Lady of the Sand is a statue of who I presumed to be Pope John Paul II. It was interesting to see some of those funeral type flower arrangements we had seen in the market lying in front of the statue.

A pedestrian bridge behind the The Church of Our Lady on the Sand led us off the island. Near the bridge a fence has been taken over by the popular idea of locks. A nearby Wroclaw gnome seems to be the keeper of the locks.

After crossing the bridge. we headed toward two other churches. First we came to the Church of the Holy Cross. This is a massive structure. I had to stand back a ways to get it all in. As seems to be the case in other locations, there was work being done to the church so we were not able to enter the sanctuary. In fact a fence blocked the entrance. Even the entrance was impressive, however, as parishioners would have to walk up a flight of stairs to the entrance.

Beyond the Church of the Holy Cross is the main Catholic Cathedral in Wroclaw, the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. The church has two very tall steeples which on this day were almost lost in the low clouds. Visitors can climb to the top of one of the towers which then offers excellent views of Wroclaw. We might have climbed up, but the fog made the effort seem unproductive.

The sanctuary is large but not as ornate as some I have seen inn other parts of Europe such as Spain. There were a number of side chapels. Each one featured a stained glass window which were more traditional with colorful glass revealing a Bible story or character. Stained glass windows high up in the exterior walls of the center of the sanctuary added further interest. The church seemed very popular with a number of tour groups visiting as well as a group of students.

We left the church and walked around behind it. The back of the church was perhaps more interesting than the front. There were some other buildings behind it as well which seemed to be some religious organizations or a seminary.

At this point we needed a break and decided to head back to town and find a Starbucks. The closest Starbucks was in a mall. When we arrived, we sat back and relaxed with some treats for a while. Since we were in a coffee mood Silvette decided she wanted to buy some more Nespresso sleeves. Andrea had taken some of them back with her so Silvette figured she had room to buy more. The Nespresso shop was in another mall about a mile away. We decided we could walk there.

Our journey took us through the more modern part of Wroclaw. As we got near the mall, we realized we were at the central train station. Since we were taking the train tomorrow we thought we would scope things out and make sure we understood where we needed to catch the train. It’s a good thing we did as it took us about ten minutes to make sure we knew what we were doing. It helps us feel more confident when we arrive at the station.

We found the Nespresso shop and after making our purchase found a spot to rest. Our plan was to return to the area of the Christmas market one last time and eat at a pizza restaurant I had seen there. I put the information in Google maps, and we figured out the right tram to take, and we were off. The tram was initially very crowded, but it thinned out as we got closer to our stop.

We got off the tram and headed in the direction Google maps was sending us, but after a bit it just didn’t seem right. Nothing looked familiar, and we were in a very residential area. I closed out Google and put in our destination again, and it indicated a completely different location. We had to walk back to where we got off the tram, take a different tram for about 15 minutes, and finally we were where we wanted to be.

We found the pizza restaurant. No one else was in the restaurant, but we braved it, and the pizza was really good. When we left, a number of other customers were enjoying the restaurant. We walked back through the Christmas market enjoying the sights and sounds one last time. We knew the tram to get back to our hotel so after a long and tiring day with lots of walking, it was good to be back in our room.

Tomorrow we head to our final destination, Krakow. Unlike Wroclaw, the buildings of Krakow were not severely damaged in WW II so it will be interesting to see more of the original buildings. I Look forward to sharing our experiences with you next week.