Frombork Cathedral or the Archcathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Andrew ( pl, Bazylika archikatedralna Wniebowzięcia Najświętszej Maryi Panny i św. Andrzeja we Fromborku) in

Frombork Frombork (; german: Frauenburg ) is a town in northern Poland, situated on the Vistula Lagoon in Braniewo County, within Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. As of December 2021, it has a population of 2,260. The town was first mentioned in a 13th-centur ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

located in the small town of

in northern Poland. Constructed between 1329 and 1388, it replaced an earlier building dating from 1288. It stands on Cathedral Hill on Cathedral Street (ul. Katedralna 8). The basilica is on Poland's official national Historic Monuments List (''

Pomnik historii Historic Monument ( pl, pomnik historii) is one of several categories of objects of cultural heritage (in the singular, '' zabytek'') in Poland. To be recognized as a Polish historic monument, an object must be declared such by the President ...

''), designated on 16 September 1994. It comes under the

National Heritage Board of Poland The National Institute of Cultural Heritage of Poland ( pl, Narodowy Instytut Dziedzictwa NID) is a Polish governmental institution responsible for documenting cultural property and the intangible cultural heritage, as well as for supporting and ...

History

The original cathedral, completed in 1288, was a timber structure. It was called ''Ecclesia Warmiensis'', indicating that it was the main diocesan building. In 1329, erection began of a brick and stone church and lasted until 1388, giving rise to the present cathedral. It comprises three naves 90 meters long and 16.5 meters tall, ending in a single

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

. The building had no tower until the end of the 16th century, when a series of

renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

spires was added at the corners. In 1638, a clock was inserted in the central spire. At the beginning of the 18th century, the church was enlarged on the northern aspect and a highly ornate portal was added to the entrance. Between 1887 and 1891 the interior was radically refurbished, to achieve the extant decorative order. The artist Justus Bornowski of Elbląg designed the murals. There are fragments of a

Late Gothic painting Early Netherlandish painting, traditionally known as the Flemish Primitives, refers to the work of artists active in the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands during the 15th- and 16th-century Northern Renaissance period. It flourished especiall ...

, showing early Church Fathers and the crest of Bishop Nicholas Tungen in the chancel.

Link to Copernicus

The astronomer and mathematician

Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formulated ...

worked here as a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

(1512–16 and 1522–43). He wrote his epochal work, ''

De revolutionibus orbium cœlestium ''De revolutionibus orbium coelestium'' (English translation: ''On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres'') is the seminal work on the heliocentric theory of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) of the Polish Renaissance. The book, ...

'' in Frombork. Shortly after its 1543 publication, Copernicus died there and was buried in the cathedral where his grave was thought to have been found by archaeologists in 2005. This was subsequently confirmed in November 2008 by the publication of the results of DNA tests on fragments of bone and hair found on the skeleton; hair that matched two strands of hair which belonged to Copernicus and are currently located in

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. The university rose to significance during ...

.Copernicus skeleton identified
The Guardian (November 22, 2008) In the northwest corner of the cathedral grounds is Copernicus' tower, and in the southwest corner an octagonal building with a square bell tower and a small planetarium and a

Foucault's pendulum ''Foucault's Pendulum'' (original title: ''Il pendolo di Foucault'' ) is a novel by Italian writer and philosopher Umberto Eco. It was first published in 1988, and an English translation by William Weaver appeared a year later. ''Foucault's P ...

. The city suffered destruction during the

Polish–Swedish wars The Polish–Swedish Wars were a series of wars between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden. Broadly construed, the term refers to a series of wars between 1563 and 1721. More narrowly, it refers to particular wars between 1600 and ...

. Between 1626 and 1635 it was occupied by Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden who looted the cathedral and removed many cultural artefacts, including Copernicus' manuscripts to Sweden. The town and cathedral were badly damaged in World War II. After the war the cathedral was meticulously reconstructed.

History

Link to Copernicus

See also