page_title: Shrine of St. Faustina (Warsaw)
section_title: Transition
hierarchical_section_title: Shrine of St. Faustina (Warsaw) / Transition
caption_attribution_description: Młynów, Warszawa, Poland
context_page_description: The Shrine of St. Faustina is a Roman Catholic church located in Warsaw; it is the center of the Divine Mercy and St. Faustina Parish. From 1863 to 1944 the building served as internal chapel within the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy monastery compound; destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising, it remained a ruin until the early 21st century, when it was brought to the current shape. The church and its immediate surroundings gained nationwide iconic status in the 1980s; the premises became the hub of independent art, strongly flavored with opposition to the official political regime. Currently the church is known mostly as related to Saint Faustina, who entered the neighboring monastery in 1925.
context_section_description: Political turmoil of 1989 spelled huge change also for the church; artists and politicians abandoned the parish almost overnight and moved into newly conquered official institutions. The parish priest tried to retain high profile by cultivating the ecumenical link; in 1989-1993 the church maintained relations with Buddhists, hosting monks and staging a meeting with Dalai Lama. However, Czarnowski’s primary focus was on charity. In 1990 on the nearby corner he opened a canteen for the poor named “ONLY gifts of mercy”, which used to serve 800-1000 meals a day. In the roughly refurbished premises of the clergy house he opened a dormitory and a bath; the premises catered to the homeless, but also to single mothers. Following 20 years of incessant renovation efforts, in the mid-1990s the church turned from insulated ruin to a crude but usable temple; major improvements included a primitive roof of acrylic glass, solid windows, wooden floor which covered the basement and basic interior equipment.
  In 1997 Czarnowski was appointed to another religious post; details of his departure from Żytnia are not clear. He was replaced by a new parish priest, Tadeusz Polak, who in agreement with most of the parishioners soon concluded that the church was badly in need of a decisive overhaul. Major works commenced in the early 21st century, this time carried out by professional construction companies. In course of 5 years the walls were strengthened with iron reinforcements, the main nave was extended by 10 meters with a new main porch constructed, a new aisle and a side entry were added along the Eastern wall, red-brick walls were plastered, new windows were fitted and acrylic roof was replaced with a ceramic one. The change was complete when in 2007 the basement was covered with new concrete ceiling and wooden floor gave way to a marble one.
  Works launched by rev. Polak triggered wide controversy. Skeptics claimed that the overhaul would do away with historical memorial, wipe out unique picturesque interior, remove informal monument to the Warsaw Uprising and violate the conservation law. Some noted that mass in the crude, bullet-ridden red-brick building with stars shining over the transparent roof made an unforgettable experience; others asserted that the new project envisioned a banal construction with no architectural value. In 2001 the Masovian monument protection office launched the process of registering the church as a law-protected site; the bureaucratic drudgery was finalized in 2003, when construction works were already in full swing. Supporters of the renovation claimed that crumbling bricks were hazard to the public, acrylic roof ensured glasshouse effect in the summer and cracked walls guaranteed sub-zero temperatures in the winter, following construction of new large residential estates the small church no longer met the needs of multiplied parish community and that the church was monument to Nazi barbarity and Communist malice rather than to the Warsaw Uprising.
  The conflict was defined along different lines, clearly marked by emerging animosity between increasingly secular and progressive elites and increasingly traditionalist Church. Supporters of the renovation suspected that the Warsaw intellectual and art pundits intended to keep the church as a monument to their own activity of the 1980s. Opponents maintained that the Polish Roman-Catholic Church was plagued by narrow-mindedness, glitzy esthetics and temptation to show off wealth. Some concluded that ecclesiastic decision-makers wanted no competition to the cult of St. Faustina, especially that the church was to be elevated to the status of her shrine. Few noted that in Poland following the period of “Church-sponsored art” the religious and the artists parted and found themselves largely on the collision course.
caption: northern wall at present
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