Church of the Mother of God, the Queen of Poland — “The Lord’s Ark”
This Church has “grown” from the struggle for the cross and the church, which was originally to be built in the Teatralne housing estate, next to Teatr Ludowy, where an elementary school — one of the so-called ‘schools for the Millennium’ — was built instead. The design process started in the early 1960s. It is accessible from three sides, from the wide piazza. The external wall has been made of small river stones. The roof in form of a boat, covered with shingle, imitates the shape of the slanting and “bulging” walls, separated from them by a narrow skylight. Vertical walls, in triangular shape, by the altar, contrast with the solid walls. The ceiling is divided into four parts with gaps and a skylight forms the shape of the cross. An approach to the stepped main entrance has been designed individually, with a wall of split stone, in which cast bronze reliefs are scattered irregularly. An arched, wooden and steel roofing with tube-shaped lamps leads to it. The church is a three-level, single-space structure on nearly an oval plan. It has many symbolic meanings. There is a characteristic sculpture of a crucified Christ, expressively bent (Bronisław Chromy). The floor falls towards the altar in the centre, shaped as a palm of a hand. The Stations of the Cross refer to history of Poland (Mariusz Lipiński, 1980–1983). Instead of a tower, there is a mast — a cross made of stainless steel. It is an example of Late, expressionist Modernism, soft and sculptural, with some features of brutalism. Referring to the chapel in Ronchamp, designed by Le Corbusier, it illustrates the unity of form, function and structure; also the shape of the roof makes an association with the chapel, at the same time resembling the Lord’s Ark, being the origin of the customary name.