Kościół pw. Świętego Augustyna

In 1896, a grand gesture of love and remembrance brought Kościeł pw. Świętego Augustyna into existence. Countess Aleksandra Potocka, grieving the loss of her husband, Count August Potocki, commissioned this magnificent neo-Romanesque church. She donated a substantial sum of 300,000 rubles, a fortune at the time, ensuring the church would face Nowolipki Street. Kościeł pw. Świętego Augustyna stands as a testament to her devotion. The church’s construction, spearheaded by architects Edward Cichocki and Józef Huss, began in 1891. The cornerstone was laid in 1892, and the first mass was held in December 1896. Kościeł pw. Świętego Augustyna became more than just a place of worship. During World War II, the church found itself tragically within the Warsaw Ghetto. Though officially closed, the priests, Father Franciszek Garncarek and Father Leon Wiśckowicz, bravely used their position to smuggle Jews, particularly Jewish converts to Catholicism, out of the ghetto. Their heroism came at a price. Father Garncarek was tragically shot in 1943, and Father Wiśckowicz perished in the Gross-Rosen concentration camp in 1944. After the ghetto’s liquidation, the Germans used Kościeł pw. Świętego Augustyna as a warehouse for stolen Jewish property and later, as a stable. The church’s tower became a strategic vantage point during the Warsaw Uprising, eventually suffering damage in the fighting. The Germans later set the church on fire, destroying much of its structure, including the rectory and parish house. Kościeł pw. Świętego Augustyna bears the scars of this tumultuous period. After the war, amidst the ruins of the ghetto, the church’s tower remained a prominent landmark. Restoration efforts began quickly, and by 1947, services resumed even as renovations continued. Kościeł pw. Świętego Augustyna, built from red clinker brick with stone details, boasts a 70-meter tower, once the tallest in Warsaw. This tower, capped with a gilded sphere, was later painted black in 1959 to quell rumors of a miraculous Virgin Mary apparition. The sphere was restored to its original gilded glory in 1995. Today, Kościeł pw. Świętego Augustyna continues to serve its community, a beacon of faith and resilience, its walls whispering tales of devotion, tragedy, and rebirth.