Szczecin Cathedral, in full the Archcathedral Basilica of St James the Apostle ( pl, Bazylika archikatedralna św. Jakuba Apostoła), is a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

cathedral located in

Szczecin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major s ...

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 ...

and seat of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Szczecin-Kamień The Archdiocese of Szczecin-Kamień ( la, Sedinen(sis) – Caminen(sis)) is an archdiocese located in the cities of Szczecin and Kamień Pomorski in Poland. With 24,3% of its population attending church services weekly or more in 2013 it is the l ...

. Built in the 12th-14th centuries, it is the second tallest church in Poland, the largest church in the region of Western Pomerania, and one of the most distinctive landmarks of the Szczecin Old Town.

History

The church was established in 1187 and the Romanesque-style building was completed in the 14th century. The church was built by the citizens of the city and modeled after the Church of St. Mary in

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...

. In ca. 1220 Pomeranian Duke Bogislaw II was buried in the cathedral. One of its two towers collapsed during a storm in 1456 and destroyed part of the church. Reconstruction lasted until 1503 and the entire church was remodelled based on a single-tower

hall church A hall church is a church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height, often united under a single immense roof. The term was invented in the mid-19th century by Wilhelm Lübke, a pioneering German art historian. In contrast to an archi ...

design. After the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, it was part of the

Pomeranian Evangelical Church The Pomeranian Evangelical Church (german: link=no, Pommersche Evangelische Kirche; PEK) was a Protestant regional church in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, serving the citizens living in Hither Pomerania. The Pomeranian Evangelical C ...

. The church was destroyed again in 1677 during the

Scanian War The Scanian War ( da, Skånske Krig, , sv, Skånska kriget, german: Schonischer Krieg) was a part of the Northern Wars involving the union of Denmark–Norway, Brandenburg and Sweden. It was fought from 1675 to 1679 mainly on Scanian soil, ...

and rebuilt between 1690 and 1693 in the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

style. In 1893, the church was remodelled again however, the west tower collapsed during a storm in 1894 and had to be rebuilt. This renovation was completed in 1901 leaving the church with a spire of 119 metres (390 feet). Air raids on the night of 16 August 1944 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

resulted in collapse of the spire added in 1901 and extensive damage to other parts of the building. The north wall, all altars and artworks inside were destroyed by the bombs and ensuing fire. Following the war, government officials were reluctant to allow reconstruction of the church however, a heritage conservator pointed out that demolition of the remaining structure would be more costly than rebuilding it. In 1971, work began on the church and continued for three years. The north wall was reconstructed in a modern style which did not harmonize with the rest of the building and the tower was stabilized, but the spire was not rebuilt. Instead, the tower was capped with a short

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus ...

or pyramid roof resulting in a height of 60 metres (196 feet). After World War II, it became once again 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. In 2006, another renovation commenced which included new heating systems and flooring. Organs, to replace those removed before the World War II bombing and never recovered, were constructed and the tower was strengthened so it could support a redesigned spire. In 2010, a new, neo-baroque Flèche has been constructed. Today, the church serves as the cathedral of the

Archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

Gallery

Image:Ruiny kosciola sw. Jakuba.JPG, Cathedral ruins after World War II Image:Szczecin katedra sw Jakuba (1).jpg, Church of St. James in Szczecin (2013) Image:Szczecin-katedra remont wieży.jpg, The church in January 2008, during the final stages of tower reconstruction, when the spire was added Image:0910 Bazylika archikatedralna św Jakuba Szczecin 3.jpg, Clock Image:Szczecin Cathedral (2501590974).jpg, View from Old Town

References

External links

Archdiocese of Szczecin-Kamień website

Sacred Restorations: Polish Cathedrals Built Anew
{{DEFAULTSORT:Szczecin Cathedral

Brick Gothic Basilica churches in Poland Buildings and structures in Szczecin 12th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Poland Churches in West Pomeranian Voivodeship Gothic architecture in Poland Old Town, Szczecin Burial sites of the House of Pomerania