St Barbara’s Church – Krakow, Poland

Jadwiga; today a saint and patron of Poland. Initially, it must have played the role of a cemetery chapel, as it stands within the former cemetery that used to surround Saint Mary’s Church The church is connected to the compound of the Jesuit monastery (the corner of the Small Market Square and ul. Sienna). Late in the 18th century it housed the University’s clinical hospital. Its head was Professor Rafał Józef Czerwiakowski, father of Polish surgery and anatomy, who conducted post-mortems and exercises on cadavers on the premises. The materials used were the bodies of executed prisoners, and of poor…