Krakow now boasts the world’s largest stained glass window

You can see it in a church in the city’s northern districts and it’s larger than a basketball court

On Sunday, 21 April, Kraków’s archbishop, Marek Jędraszewski consecrated what has been described as the largest stained glass window in the world. The artistic creation was installed at the Church of Lord Jesus the Good Shepherd in the north of the city.

More specifically, the stained glass window consists of 27 vertical sections which display different biblical scenes. The entire ensemble has a surface area of 426 square metres, which makes it slightly larger than a basketball court.

“I searched for information on this subject, [but] I haven’t found a larger single stained glass window,” said Maciej Szwagierczak, an artist from the studio that carried out the project, quoted in a statement by the archdiocese of Kraków.

The creation of the artwork, which took two years to assemble, celebrates the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Prądnik Czerwony parish.

Krakow and its connection to stained glass tradition

The stained glass ensemble is called "Through the Cross to Salvation", and in the centre is Christ - the gate that leads to salvation. However, rather than presenting Christ as a shepherd with sheep, in this case, he is surrounded by saints and apostles alluding to the idea that they have been saved by his faith in him.

The concept artist was Prof. Wincenty Kucma, who is well-known in Poland as a sculptor, illustrator and lecturer at the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts. His other monumental works include the Warsaw Uprising monument in Warsaw and the monument to the Defenders of the Polish Post Office in Gdańsk.

The new addition also further raises the profile of the Polish city as a destination for stained glass admirers. Krakow also has a dedicated Stained Glass Museum on its territory and it was where the first stained glass factory in Poland was established in 1907 – now the site of the museum.