The church, whose plan for its implementation was approved by the Four-Year Sejm in 1791 as the Temple of the Supreme Providence – a place of worship encompassing all religions, of a syncretic and Masonic nature, a votive offering of the nation’s gratitude for the Constitution of May 3rd. The first design, by Jakub Kubicki (1791), was never realized due to the Third Partition of Poland, while the second, by Bohdan Pniewski (in numerous versions from 1929-1938), was created due to the outbreak of World War II.

After Poland regained independence in 1989, Primate Józef Glemp initiated the implementation of the nearly two-century-old plans, whose efforts were supported by the Senate (1991), the Warsaw City Council (1998), and the Sejm (1998). Construction of the Catholic church, under its current name, the Temple of Divine Providence, finally began in 2002, with the symbolic groundbreaking ceremony performed by President Lech Kaczyński. The architectural design of the church—after the rejection of Marek Budzyński’s winning competition design from 2000, which was not to the liking of the Temple Construction Foundation—was ultimately created by father and son, Wojciech and Lech Szymborski. Their modernist concept is a nod to Jakub Kubicki’s initial plans from 1791.

The church’s official opening—despite ongoing finishing work—took place in 2016. That same year, the church received the title of “Macabre”—the ugliest building in the country (Bryla.pl, Agora). To this day, the church’s architecture evokes widely differing emotions and opinions. Together with the John Paul II and Primate Wyszyński Museum and the Pantheon of Great Poles, the church constitutes an institution known as the Divine Providence Center, whose mission is to present the history of the Polish Church and nation’s struggle for the freedom and independence of the Republic of Poland. Address: Prymasa Augusta Hlonda 1, Wilanów, Warsaw.