Holy Cross Church, Warsaw

Holy Cross Church, Warsaw tickets: which one to buy

Holy Cross Church stands on Krakowskie Przedmiescie, the royal route through central Warsaw, opposite the main gate of the university and a short walk from the old town, and it is free to enter. Walking tours along the royal route almost always stop here, because the church holds one of the city's most famous relics of national memory: the heart of Frederic Chopin. Tours devoted to Chopin combine the church with the museum dedicated to him a few streets away, the salon where he lived as a young man and, outside the city, his birthplace at Zelazowa Wola.

Free Chopin recitals take place in several places in Warsaw in summer, especially in the Lazienki park, and the church is often the starting point for the day. The building is busy with worshippers and closes to sightseeing during mass. There is nothing to book, and a visit takes only a short time. The pillar with Chopin's heart is on the left side of the nave, marked by a tablet and flowers.

Visiting Holy Cross Church, Warsaw: what to see

A church has stood here since the fifteenth century; the present baroque building was raised between 1679 and 1696 and finished with its twin-towered front in the 1750s. Two stone steps lead up to a figure of Christ carrying the cross, a statue erected in 1858 which gives the church its image. Warsaw was almost entirely destroyed in the Second World War, and the church was blown up by German troops during the uprising of 1944 after heavy fighting inside it; it was rebuilt afterwards.

Chopin died in Paris in 1849 and was buried there, but at his wish his heart was brought back to Poland by his sister and sealed into a pillar of this church, where a marble tablet marks the spot. The heart was removed for safekeeping during the war and returned in 1945. Another pillar holds the heart of the writer Wladyslaw Reymont, winner of the Nobel Prize. The main altar and the side chapels were reconstructed from photographs and surviving fragments after the war.

Holy Cross Church, Warsaw opening hours and the best time to go

The church is open through the day, and weekday mornings are quietest. Masses are frequent, and visitors should keep to the back during them. Summer in Warsaw brings the free Sunday Chopin concerts at the monument in Lazienki park from May to September, and the church fits well into a day built around them. The anniversary of Chopin's birth, in early March, and of his death, in October, are marked with events and flowers at the pillar.

The Chopin competition, held every five years in October, draws musicians and music lovers from around the world. Winter is cold and dark, though the royal route is decorated with lights at Christmas. Allow twenty minutes for the church, and walk on along the royal route to the castle square. The university gate opposite leads into a quiet courtyard campus that is open to the public.