Travel Guide
The Cathedral
The archdiocese basilica of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul is the city's oldest historical monument. Its origins date back to 968, when the Poznan diocese was created. In 1962 Pope John XXIII bestowed on the temple the title of lesser patriarchal church. Construction of the first cathedral - a three - nave pre - Romanesque basilica - was started by Prince Mieszko I around the year 968. It was many times destroyed and restored.
Today the cathedral is a three - nave basilica, with an ambulatory around the chancel. There are 12 chapels and 2 sacristies adjacent to the side naves and the ambulatory. The temple is 81 metres long and 43.5 metres wide. The main nave is 24.5 metres high, the spires are ca. 62 metres high and the small spires over the ambulatory each have 44 metres. The facade has a pointed offset portal made of profiled, glazed bricks. The bronze door in the portal depicting scenes from the lives of St Peter (on the outside) and St Paul (inside) was made in 1979. It was designed by Kazimierz Bienkowski. Over the portal there is a high Gothic window with a rosette and above it a staircase Gothic gable with blank windows. The Baroque domes of the spires were renovated in 1952. After World War II the inside of the cathedral was restored to its Gothic form.
Address: 17 Ostrow Tumski Street [Poznan]
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