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The Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Poznań Fara
Poznan, Greater Poland, Poland
The Poznań Fara stands at the end of Świętosławska Street, its pink-and-white northern façade rising above the cobblestones. Construction began in 1651 under the Italian builder Tomasz Poncino. The Jesuit order dismissed Poncino when his work caused cracks in the masonry, and the Swedish Deluge halted progress for decades. The Jesuit rector Bartłomiej Nataniel Wąsowski redesigned the temple, utilizing the existing foundations and crowning the 27-meter-high nave with a light wooden vault. The church was consecrated in 1705. It reached its final form between 1727 and 1732, when Pompeo Ferrari designed the grand main portal and the 17-meter-tall high altar.
Inside, sixteen massive Corinthian columns made of artificial red marble line the 55-meter-long nave. Visitors can feel the cool, polished surface of these imitation pillars, which support no weight. Above them, the vaults feature paintings by Karol Dankwart, who depicted scenes from the life of Saint Stanislaus. In the quiet of the side aisles rests a late-Gothic wooden sculpture of the Lashed Jesus from circa 1430, salvaged from the destroyed collegiate church of Saint Mary Magdalene.
High on the choir loft sits the romantic pipe organ, built between 1872 and 1876 by the German master Friedrich Ladegast. An anonymous elderly woman donated half of the 24,000-mark cost. The instrument contains 2,579 pipes, with the largest measuring over six meters in length. Pious legend says her ghost, a woman dressed in black, still appears on the balcony to watch over her gift. Today, the organ's deep, physical vibrations shake the air during weekly concerts, filling the space that Pope Benedict XVI elevated to a Minor Basilica in 2010.