Church of Saint Andrew
Kościół pw. Świętego Andrzeja is a Roman Catholic conventual church of the Order of Saint Clare, and its defining feature is not only worship, but protection. This Romanesque church was built between 1079 and 1098 by the medieval Polish statesman Palatine Sieciech, using stone blocks on a scale more typical of a fortress than a parish church. It is one of Kraków’s oldest buildings and is remembered for surviving the Mongol attack of 1241, when it functioned as a refuge for many residents—so reliably that it was called “the lower castle.” Along the lower façade are small defensive openings, intended as windows for a time when the church served as shelter during assaults. By 1320, it was used by the Religious Order of Poor Clares, and later renovations reshaped its interior into Baroque form: decorations by Baltazar Fontana, paintings by Karol Dankwart, and Baroque domes atop octagonal towers added in 1639.
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