St. John's Cathedral, Warsaw

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Pre-war picture of St. John's Cathedral; note the distinctive English Gothic façade

St. John's Cathedral after the post-war reconstruction

Katedra św. Jana (St. John's Cathedral) is one of two cathedrals in the city of Warsaw, capital of Poland, and one of the oldest churches of that city. Located in Warsaw's Old Town it is one of the Polish national mausolea and the main church of the arch-diocese of Warsaw.

Originally built in 14th century as a Brick Gothic church, it served as a coronation and burial site for numerous Dukes of Masovia. Rebuilt several times, most notably in 19th century, it was preserved until World War II as an example of English Gothic Revival. Levelled by the Germans during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, it was rebuilt after the war. It is notable that the reconstruction of the exterior was based on assumptions on how the 14th century church may have looked like and not on how it actually looked before the war.

In the crypts below the main aisle there are graves of several notable people, among them numerous Dukes of Masovia, president of Poland Gabriel Narutowicz, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, primates August Hlond and Stefan Wyszyński, writer Henryk Sienkiewicz and the last of Polish monarchs, Stanisław August Poniatowski, who was also crowned in the cathedral.