One of Ostrów Tumski's most beautiful and iconic structures, thanks to a 70m steeple and impressive entry staircase, this curious sanctuary is actually two churches in one. Split over two levels, the building comprises the shorter windows of the Church of St. Bartholomew - today the parish church of a Ukraine-Byzantine congregation - beneath the soaring windows of the upper level Church of the Holy Cross. The first two-storey church in Silesia, and one of only a few in all of Europe, the church was completed in 1295 as an act of reconciliation ending a long dispute between Duke Henry IV and Bishop Thomas II. For centuries the sarcophagus of Henry IV was housed in the upper Church of the Holy Cross, however today it can be seen on display in the National Museum. Standing outside the church is a large sculpture of John of Nepomuk dating from 1732.

The Church of the Holy Cross/St. Bartholomew's comments Add Yours

• Frederic - Paris 21 May 2011
  Maybe it's beautiful but you can't really enter it I came two times at one week interval and it was not possible to get inside you had to watch at the inside behind an iron gate... Anyway it looks like many other churches in Wroclaw. My advice go to St. Elisabeth first.