The current "old" church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary on "Krakówka" is made of brick, built by the efforts of the parish priest of Piotrków, Fr. Spytek, in the years 1372-1373 from the foundation of the starost of Sieradz, then of Piotrków, Jan Kmita of Wiśnicz, in the Gothic style. The founder gave the church the suburban farm of Szczekanica as an endowment, on the condition that one Mass would be celebrated every week for Casimir the Great and his family. He entrusted the care of the new church to the parish priests of Piotrków. This foundation was confirmed in 1392 by Queen Jadwiga. Robbed and burned by the Swedes in 1657. This is mentioned in the Latin inscription on the stone built into the western wall of the porch of the parish church, that in 1657 on April 1, on Easter Day itself, at noon, during lunchtime, the Swedish king with a huge army occupied the suburbs of Piotrków. He burned down the Franciscan and Bernardine churches and the Church of Our Lady on Krakówka, took many residents, both clergy and lay people, into captivity, and brutally murdered some. The church was rebuilt and re-consecrated in 1666 thanks to the charity of the townspeople and the nobility through the efforts of the then parish priest, Father Nowakowicz. In 1848, the church was seriously damaged during a storm. A lightning strike caused the walls to crack. The church was renovated in 1872 through the efforts and funds of Michalecki, a citizen of the city, the president of the church supervision. The church was covered with a new, lower shingle roof. In 1898, when heavy machinery and boilers were being transported along Krakowskie Przedmieście to a factory under construction on Bugaj, the walls of the Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, built without foundations, began to crumble again. This threatened the building with total ruin. In 1900, thanks to the efforts of the parish priest, Father Aleksander Sałaciński, the church was thoroughly rebuilt. In 1937, the church required renovation again, as the walls were once again starting to show cracks. The security works have been carried out under the parish priest Józef Goździk since 1933. They were interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. In 1940, the Germans fenced off part of the streets in the old town with barbed wire, creating a so-called ghetto for people of Jewish origin. The parish church was on the side of the ghetto and was closed to the faithful.
Translated by Google •
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