The final stop on the walking tour is the impressive Cathedral of St John the Baptist, a place of remarkable history and architecture. It is the fourth church built on this site. Construction of the present cathedral began towards the end of the thirteenth century and was completed before 1350. An elegant ring of chapels was added over time.
The Second World War caused severe damage, destroying around 75% of the cathedral. Reconstruction began in 1945 and continued until 1991, when the characteristic spires were restored, rising to approximately 97 metres. The northern tower contains a viewing platform accessible by lift. Visitors enter through a magnificent Gothic portal.
The original furnishings were lost during the war, but the cathedral now contains notable works of art. Its Gothic altar came from a destroyed Protestant church in Berlin, while the large organ was transferred from the Centennial Hall. Modern stained-glass windows fill the interior with vivid colour. In the lower church, visitors can see remains of three earlier cathedrals. Chapels behind the main altar survived the destruction.
To the south is the late seventeenth-century Chapel of St Elizabeth, with an interior created by Italian artists of the Bernini school. The central Gothic chapel contains the Renaissance tomb of Bishop Johannes Roth, carved by the Nuremberg sculptor Peter Vischer. The greatest treasure is the northern Electors’ Chapel, a Baroque masterpiece designed by the Viennese court architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach in the early eighteenth century. Visitors wishing to see the chapels should contact the nun in the sacristy.
In the cathedral’s shadow on the northern side stands the small but important Church of St Giles, the only surviving Romanesque building in Wroclaw. Passing through the arch connecting it with the neighbouring building leads to the Diocesan Museum and the Botanical Garden, an ideal place for a walk or rest after sightseeing.
This concludes our tour of Wroclaw.
Click here to return to the first stop on our tour.
