page_title: Temple of Divine Providence
section_title: Third Polish Republic
hierarchical_section_title: Temple of Divine Providence / History / Third Polish Republic
caption_attribution_description: Polski: 11/11/2018 Obchody 100. rocznicy odzyskania niepodległości Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Msza św. za Ojczyznę. Autorem fotografii jest Grzegorz Jakubowski. Obchody odbyły się w Świątyni Opatrzności Bożej w Warszawie zaprojektowanej przez "Szymborski i Szymborski Architekci".
context_page_description: The Temple of Divine Providence and Pantheon of Great Poles, in southern Warsaw's Wilanów district, is a principal Roman Catholic church in Poland. The backstory of its construction began in the 18th century. The Temple is conceived as a national and religious symbol for Poland. The complex comprises the Church of Divine Providence, the Museum of John Paul II and Primate Wyszyński, and the Pantheon of Great Poles.
  The Center of Divine Providence commemorates Poland as a country with a Roman Catholic majority and links providential events in Poland's history over the past 200 years with their putative divine inspiration: the Constitution of May 3, 1791; the 1918 rebirth of independent Poland; the 1920 "Miracle at the Vistula"; the August 1980 founding of the Solidarity movement; the next resumption of independence, in 1989; and the pastoral ministry of Stefan Wyszynski and the pontificate of Pope John Paul II. The Center is a votive church for 1,000 years of Poland's Christianity.
context_section_description: The project could not be realised during the war. The post-war communist Polish People's Republic did not continue with the project. Following the fall of communism in 1989, the Primate of Poland Cardinal Jozef Glemp revived the idea of the shrine in the late 1990s. The Sejm on 23 October 1998 adopted, by a decisive majority, an act to construct the National Temple of Divine Providence. The resolution said that "the Sejm of the Third Republic of Poland thinks that the vows the Polish nation made 200 years ago should be fulfilled" and the shrine would be "a votive church of the nation for the Constitution of 3 May, the regained independence in 1989, for twenty years of John Paul II's pontificate and two thousand years of Christianity."
  John Paul II also supported the construction of the Temple. In his pilgrimage to Poland in 1999, during the celebration in Piłsudski Square, he blessed the cornerstone, which was embedded at the position of the future altar. He said, "May this shrine become a place of special thanksgiving for freedom of the Homeland. I pray that no painful experience would disturb this thanksgiving for which we have waited 200 years." The Pope prayed for the construction and provided financial help. The shrine is being constructed in Wilanów, the end of the historic Royal Route.
  In January 2002, the Primate chose the final design of the shrine by the architects' team directed by Wojciech and Lech Szymborski, with an estimated cost of around 40 million euros. This sum was met to a large extent through private donations and co-financed by a state budget. The building is based on an 84 m x 84 m base area in the form of a Greek cross – a cross with four equal length arms, with four gates, a dome and a cross. The building will has an overall height of around 75 metres. 26 columns are arranged in a circle to form the nave of the church which has a 68 m diameter. In November 2002, Cardinal Glemp began the construction by making a symbolic gesture; he dug with a spade next to the cornerstone.
  Due to its shape the building is informally known in the press and among varsovians as The Lemon Squeezer (Wyciskarka do Cytryn).
  The temple was officially opened on Poland's Independence Day, 11 November 2016, by Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz, the archbishop of Warsaw. The ceremony was attended by President Andrzej Duda, Prime Minister Beata Szydło, speakers of both houses of parliament and other politicians. The official opening does not mean that all construction work is complete, as some finishing touches are still needed.
caption: Interior of the Temple of Divine Providence
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