Attraction

Capuchin Church in Krakow: Mass times and Loreto House

The church of the Friars Minor Capuchin on Loretańska Street was standing by 1703, and its high altar holds an Annunciation of 1701 by Pietro Dandini. Beside the friary is the Loreto House, where Tadeusz Kościuszko's sabre was blessed in 1794.

The Capuchin Church in Krakow stands on Loretańska Street, and the Loreto House, a copy of the chapel in Loreto in Italy, stands beside its friary. It is a working church of the Friars Minor Capuchin, called kościół Kapucynów in Polish. It stands about 250 m in a straight line from Collegium Maius. The church can be visited in the morning and in the evening, ideally between services (as listed in October 2026).

Address: Loretańska 11, 31-114 Krakow.
Mass times: the first Mass is at 6:30 on Sundays and solemnities (the most important feast days) and at 7:00 on other days; full schedule below.
Getting there: a short walk of about a kilometre from Wawel Royal Castle, mostly through the Planty.

Mass times at the Capuchin Church on Loretańska Street

Masses on Sundays and solemnities are at 6:30, 8:00, 9:30, 11:00, 12:30, 16:30 and 19:00. On other days, Masses are at 7:00, 8:00, 9:00, 17:30 and 19:00. Vespers, the evening prayer of the Church, are at 18:30 on Sundays.

These Mass times are as listed in October 2026 and can change, so check the current schedule on the website of the Capuchin Friary in Krakow before your visit.

Dandini's Annunciation and the cannonball in the pillar

The simple front of the church is topped by a triangular gable and has a few pilasters (flat pillars set into the wall) and an elliptical window. The church is built in the Tuscan Baroque style. It has a nave, two side chapels and a rectangular chancel, which is the area around the high altar.

The high altar: it holds an Annunciation of 1701 by Pietro Dandini of Florence. The Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo III de' Medici, gave the painting to the Capuchins.
The cannonball: a cannonball that fell into the church during the Bar Confederation in 1768 is set into a pillar by the altar.
The side altars: they date from 1775. Among their works is a figure of St Joseph with the Child Jesus, carved by Tadeusz Błotnicki in 1903.
Two side-altar images: a painting of St Erasmus from 1763 and an image of Our Lady of the Dawn Gate (Matka Boża Ostrobramska), brought from the Eastern Borderlands after the Second World War.
The crucifix: it is in the chapel of Jesus Crucified (Kaplica Jezusa Ukrzyżowanego) and is regarded as miraculous.

The Loreto House beside the Capuchin friary

According to legend, the chapel in Loreto that the Loreto House copies is the house of Mary, which angels carried from Nazareth to Italy. The Loreto House was built in the early 18th century: VisitMałopolska gives 1712-1719, and the register of monuments dates it to the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Tadeusz Kościuszko's sabre was blessed in the Loreto House during the insurrection of 1794, and a plaque by Alfred Daun recalls the event. During the Bar Confederation in 1768, the Loreto House served as a hospital.

History of the Capuchin Church and friary

King Jan III Sobieski brought the Capuchins to Poland in 1681, and the first friars arrived in August of that year. The Capuchins are a reformed branch of the Order of Friars Minor (the Franciscans), hence their proper name, Friars Minor Capuchin. Warsaw had the first Capuchin friary in Poland and Krakow the second.

The decision to build the Krakow friary and church was taken in 1694. Many donors paid for the work, above all Wojciech Dembiński, Ensign of Zator and Oświęcim. The Capuchins came to Krakow in 1695, and the church was standing by 1703.

Plaques and epitaphs to victims of wars and to distinguished soldiers and scholars are placed in the church and in the cloisters (covered walkways) of the Loreto House. The plaques are here because the Capuchins served as chaplains to the insurgents from the Kościuszko Insurrection until the outbreak of the First World War, and went with them into battle.

In front of the friary is the grave of Bar confederates who fell in 1768. A cross with a commemorative plaque was erected on the grave in 1993.

The Capuchin Church Christmas crib

For many years the friars have set up a szopka, a Christmas crib, by a side altar during the Christmas season. The first crib, with rag puppets or plaster figures, was set up soon after the friary was built. The first written records of the crib date from 1866.

In 1955 the crib was rebuilt. In that version, figures paying homage moved in front of the manger, bells rang, a carol played and Bethlehem was visible in the background. The artist Józef Chorwat-Chodacka made the puppets for this version.

In 1969 the crib was arranged in highlander style. In 1998 it was rebuilt again, with a new vault and Jerusalem in the background. Over the years, new elements were added to the crib, among them the Wawel Dragon and St John Paul II.