Garrison Church
   Photo: Garrison Church

Church of Our Lady Queen of Peace, located in Bydgoszcz Street Bernardine, the locals called the garrison, as the parish to which he belongs, was founded by the military. Until 1971, the church was considered the patron Saint George, but the rector of the church Stefan Wyszynski renamed the Church entrusted to him.

The history of the Garrison Church in Bydgoszcz has its origins in the distant 1480, when the Polish town came Bernardine. Permission to settle in Bydgoszcz they received from the king himself. At the direction of the Wroclaw Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnica, was laid here Bernardine monastery.

The monastery church was built, consecrated names of St. Jerome and St. Francis, which was burnt down by a fire caused by a lightning strike in 1545. Then suffered many monastic buildings survived only library with a collection of rare books and infirmary.

September 23, 1552 the Polish King Sigismund August ordered the restoration of the destroyed Bernardine church. His only condition was as follows: the height of the spire of the church was not to exceed the height of the towers of the castle, standing nearby. The church was built anew in the years 1552-1557, and it is already dedicated to St. George. It was built in the Gothic style, but the design of its facade and Renaissance elements were used.

The temple was in a dilapidated state after the Swedish wars of the XVII century, so it was reconstructed, slightly modifying its shape. Thus, the church received a square tower, which survives to this day. In 1682-1685, the front of the temple in honor of the victory in the Battle of Vienna Yang Panino founded a small chapel to Our Lady of Loreto hut.

In the XVIII century the church had seven altars and a rich collection of ecclesiastical objects. By that time, the roof of the church was covered with tiles and tiled with ceramic tiles. Benches for the believers were created from wood and decorated with carvings.

Garrison Church began in 1838 during the Prussian rule. Then it visited, mostly soldiers the nearby garrison. It has maintained its status as a military church until today.

At the end of the XX century during the reconstruction in the vaults of the church were found murals XVII-XVIII centuries.

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