Church of St. Anthony of Padua and Franciscan Monastery

Church of St. Anthony Padarewski and Franciscan monastery in Poznan is located at the bottom of Mount Przemysł (Castle Hill).

Franciscans were brought to Poznan in the first half of the seventeenth century by Bishop Andrew Szołdrski. However, they aroused resentment of other religious orders (mostly Bernard), who had already had their own church in the city. Thus Franciscan received a place near Grobla street. They built a wooden church in 1646 (in its place today stands Church of All Saints in Poznan). Ten years later, the temple was burned and the monks have received the currently non-existent church of st. Roch. Anyway they wanted to get a place for the temple within the city walls. They succeeded in 1668, when they acquired for the construction a square at the bottom of Castle Hill. contracted for the design and execution of masonry - Jan Koński. Construction dragged on and it was completed in 1728.

In 1832 the order was cancelled, and the Prussian authorities have transformed the church into a warehouse. Then the wings of the monastery were demolished and the church was transferred to the German catholics. The monks recovered their buildings in 1921. During the Second World War the church also served the German Catholics. During fights in 1945 collapsed roof of the nave, destroying some equipment. The temple was rebuilt as the first church in Poznan. The interior was restored in the years 1963 - 1965 under the direction of T. Szukała i H. Kot.

Church of Sts. Anthony of Padua is a three-aisled basilica with a transept. The nave is covered with a barrel vault with lunettes. In the interior there is a rich stucco decoration and murals done in the years 1702 - 1735 by the Czech Franciscan Adam Swach. His brother, Anthony Swach, made the high altar and rich oak choir stalls.

Architectural, richly gilded main altar in the central part of the lower tier contains an image of vision of Saint Anthony, whose sides are statues of St. Augustine and St. Francis of Assisi.

The church has a rich collection of XVII - XVIII portraits mainly created in the local workshops.

The monastery is shown on the reverse of the 2 złoty coin lined in 2011 by the Polish National Bank.