In the church of the Holy Spirit in Wrocław, the apse becomes the façade

© arcomai I Church of the Holy Spirit.

In the landscape of postwar Polish sacred architecture, the Church of the Holy Spirit in Wrocław stands out as a bold and deeply symbolic work. Built between 1973 and 1981 based on designs by Waldemar Wawrzyniak, Jerzy Wojnarowicz, and Tadeusz Zipser, this church represents an original synthesis of formal avant-garde, historical memory, and contemporary liturgical demands, in dialogue with the spirit of the Second Vatican Council. The current building rises on a site that, between 1928 and 1945, housed a neo-Romanesque church designed by Hermann Pfafferott, located at the intersection of Armii Krajowej and Nyska streets. Constructed in brick and characterized by a slender tower, the church featured conservative architectural forms. It was severely damaged during the siege of Wrocław in 1945, and its ruins were definitively demolished in the mid-1950s. Attempts to build a new church began in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but all initiatives were blocked by the authorities. Meanwhile, a bakery was built on the site of the demolished building.

© arcomai I Church of the Holy Spirit.

Finally, in 1972, authorization was granted to build a new church on a much more visible plot, closing the axis of Kamienna Street. Construction began in 1973 and was completed in 1981. After the main body of the church was built, the complex was gradually expanded with single-story catechetical halls around the courtyard between 1978 and 1983 (designed by Tadeusz Zipser), a freestanding bell tower between 1994 and 1995, and a new, more spacious rectory. Restricted to a single volume, the designers conceived a compact yet articulated structure capable of integrating liturgical, pastoral, and residential functions.

© arcomai I Church of the Holy Spirit.

The church is distinguished by its sculptural massing, copper conical roof, and brick walls, initially left exposed to evoke Wrocław’s historic architecture. The main body is topped by a roof resembling a tent — a symbolic reference to the dwelling of a people on the move. At its peak, a cross set within a floral cup accentuates the building’s verticality and liturgical dimension. The perimeter walls are brick, while the ceiling and vaults are made of reinforced concrete. The steel roof-bell tower structure is clad in copper sheeting, contributing to the ensemble’s strong material and chromatic identity. The lateral walls reach a height of about 25 meters, while the total height of the building is 54 meters. In the early 21st century, the façade underwent thermal insulation using polystyrene panels and an orange plaster finish — a choice not shared by the original designers. This transformation raised questions about architectural integrity and the role of ecclesiastical preservation, highlighting tensions between functional needs and the conservation of original design language. Today, the Church of the Holy Spirit is recognized as an urban and cultural landmark, a living testimony to the city’s architectural and spiritual resilience.

© arcomai I Church of the Holy Spirit.

The entire complex is organized around an internal courtyard, balancing monumentality with hospitality. The latter is conveyed through a “niche façade” of glass, which seems to open in an architectural gesture of embrace toward the faithful. It’s a radical spatial inversion: the church turns outward, overturning traditional liturgical hierarchy. The curved glass wall assumes the role of the apse, typically located at the end of the nave. Here, the back becomes the front, and the interior space projects outward. The stained glass not only pierces the volume, creating the impression of luminous emptiness within, but also dematerializes it: the façade becomes a section, in a gesture that dissolves mass and reveals spiritual structure. It’s a sophisticated device, steeped in expressionist symbolism, recalling the plastic research of Erich Mendelsohn’s Einstein Tower (1924) in Potsdamn( Gemany). The reference is not merely formal: the church’s bell tower explicitly echoes its language, confirming a deliberate citation. Although the entrance is accessed via a ramped staircase with “shell balustrades,” the gesture is amplified here: the staircase splits into two symmetrical ramps, achieving the same expressive effect. These two accesses share the same architectural and semantic intention. If in the Einstein Tower the staircase represents the path toward scientific knowledge — aligned with the observatory’s function to verify Einstein’s theories — in the Church of the Holy Spirit it becomes a metaphor for the path toward knowledge of faith. A passage from the light of reason to the light of revelation.

© arcomai I Church of the Holy Spirit.

Some have previously compared this Wrocław church to Le Corbusier’s Chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Haut in Ronchamp (1955). In our view, such a correspondence is evident in only one aspect: the façade — or, in the French chapel’s case, the four façades — can serve as a backdrop for outdoor liturgy, transforming into a high altar and incorporating the surrounding landscape, as per the Swiss architect’s stated intention. However, the differences outweigh the similarities. In Ronchamp, the curvilinear exterior walls are not reflected in the interior spatiality, which is configured as a rectangular nave. In contrast, in the Polish church, the interior walls delimiting the volume are interrupted and interspersed with curved surfaces that rise to pierce the vaulted ceiling. This system generates a further sense of estrangement, accentuating the distortion between the irregular hexagonal floor plan and the irregular octagonal vaulted ceiling, shaped by the underlying geometry’s vertices. The result is a mystical space, where the faithful relate according to their inner state, immersed in a void to inhabit with their faith, in total freedom. Here, the axiality imposed by the main façade dissolves completely, giving way to a fluid, non-hierarchical spatiality open to personal experience and contemplation.

© arcomai I Church of the Holy Spirit.

The “inverted” or “tent-like” dome is composed of a series of vaults reaching upward, like a great sheet stretched by the sky. In this relationship between the faithful and a free, open space, the church translates the principles of the Second Vatican Council into architectural form: unified space, full visibility of the altar, active and communal participation. The environment, enriched by lateral galleries and an organ built in 1989 by Józef Cynar, is defined by plastic walls that break with traditional rigidity, emphasizing the centrality of the assembly nave. The result is a multiperspectival, fluid, and non-hierarchical space that — despite its contemporaneity — evokes the inclusive and articulated spatiality of Romanesque architecture. A paradigmatic example of this design research is undoubtedly Giovanni Michelucci’s Church of St. John the Baptist (1971) in Florence North, where the tension between form and liturgy translates into a radical spiritual and architectural experience.

© arcomai I Church of the Holy Spirit.

The liturgical hall exceeds 800 square meters (about 30 meters long by 32 wide), with over 600 seats and a total capacity of around 2,000 people. A distinctive architectural element is the ramp that, starting from the altar, guides the faithful toward the exit. This curvilinear path, winding around the internal courtyard, not only facilitates the evacuation of such a large number of people but also serves as a path of reflection and recollection — a moment of spiritual transition before returning to daily life. The painted decorations, entrusted to Tadeusz Zipser and Barbara Stoksik, abandon the original ascetic idea in favor of a more narrative and engaging language. Beneath the Resurrection scene, the Madonna is depicted as her heart is removed — a dramatic gesture symbolizing absolute devotion and sacrificial love. The Church of the Holy Spirit is not merely a religious building: it is an architectural statement, a cultural act of resistance, and a testament to the project’s ability to interpret memory, context, and present-day needs. In a fragmented urban fabric, it asserts itself as a focal point of the community—a space of spiritual and design reflection that continues to question and inspire.

© arcomai I Church of the Holy Spirit.