Conservation work at the Res Sacra Miser church at Krakowskie Przedmieście 62 in Warsaw has been financially supported by the City of Warsaw for years. Since 2016, the church, which survived the Second World War without major damage, has been undergoing gradual restoration. In 2024, the city’s grant amounts to PLN 265,122 and will be used for the conservation of the sculptures and paintings in the main altar.
The Res Sacra Miser Church, founded in 1664 in the former dining hall of Adam Kazanowski’s palace, is one of the few religious buildings in Warsaw to have survived the war effort intact. The temple, originally a monastery of the Discalced Carmelites, is of exceptional artistic and historical value.
Krakowskie Przedmieście with the surviving church, 1959. Author: Mogens Tørsleff
A number of restoration works have been carried out in the church in previous years. The conservation of the paintings on the vault was completed and the frescoes from the first half of the 18th century, which had been painted over in the 1960s, were uncovered. Oil paintings on plaster from the 19th century were also restored and a comprehensive conservation of the cast-iron pulpit and gallery balustrade was carried out.
The first stage of conservation of the Baroque altarpiece from the first half of the 18th century, attributed to the workshop of Bartholomew Michał Bernatowicz, has now begun. The work, originally intended for another church, found its way to the church at Krakowskie Przedmieście in the late 18th or early 19th century. It is decorated with five gilded linden wood figures, which are already undergoing restoration work. Six oil paintings from the late 19th century, including four pull-outs, will also undergo restoration.
The work on the sculptures and paintings is complicated by their state of preservation. The monuments are covered with secondary layers of polychrome and gilding, and numerous cracks and cavities are visible on their surface. The paintings, on the other hand, are darkened and partly illegible, which is probably due to the fluctuating humidity in the church after the installation of central heating in the 1960s and damage to the church roof during the war.
The paintings and sculptures have been dismantled and transferred to the conservation workshop, where work is being carried out to prevent deterioration processes and restore them to their former glory. The work is being accompanied by conservation research, which aims not only to learn about the techniques and technology used to make them, but also to determine the state of preservation of the altarpiece’s construction. The results of these examinations will be crucial for the development of a programme for the next stage of conservation work, which will include the construction of the altarpiece.
Thanks to regular conservation work and the support of the City of Warsaw, the Res Sacra Miser Church is slowly regaining its former splendour, and the measures taken are aimed at safeguarding and preserving its unique heritage for future generations.
Source: Warsaw City Hall, Capital Conservator of Monuments
Read also: Architecture in Poland | Renovation | Monument | Sacral architecture | Sculpture | Warsaw
