Stanisław Moniuszko never really enjoyed good health. He suffered of a heart condition for many years and overworked himself for most of his life: he wrote music, conducted concerts and operas, managed the Warsaw opera house and taught. We are able to reconstruct the last day of his life thanks to various chronicles’ accounts and memories of his loved ones. He got up very early as usual, went to the morning mass – most probably at the church of the Visitation Sisters on Krakowskie Przedmieście – and went for his morning tea to Koch’s famous tea house near the Staszic Palace, which was his habit. He was meant to head to the Music Institute but never did. He felt unwell. And after a short stop by the Teatr Wielki, he decided to return home to Mazowiecka Street. He collapsed when climbing the stairs to his apartment. Doctors were called in. He came round for a while in the afternoon. He died at 6 p.m. surrounded by his family. A heart attack was cited as the official cause of death.

The funeral was held at the Holy Cross Church three days later, on 7 June 1872. The casket was laid on a catafalque surrounded with a sea of flowers. The service started at 11 a.m. and was officiated by the bishop of Lublin, Walenty Baranowski, a great Polish patriot and participant of the November Uprising. After the mass, the casket travelled to Powązki Cemetery accompanied by a procession of tens of thousands of people.

The Holy Cross Church belongs to the Congregation of the Mission. The church has been the most important place of worship and charitable institution in Warsaw for centuries. The shrine in its present form was constructed between 1671 and 1696 according to a design by Józef Szymon Bellotti (actual name: Simone Giuseppe Belotti), the most important baroque architect in Warsaw after Tylman z Gameren (Tylman van Gameren). The two towers topped by late baroque headpieces were designed by Józef Fontana. His son, Jakub Fontana gave the facade its characteristic look and added the staircase with a driveway. The facade was adorned with sculptures by Poland’s best sculptor of the late baroque period, Jan Jerzy Plersch. To complete the composition, Jakub Fontana also added two residential buildings on both sides of the church. In 1858 a figure of Christ carrying the cross was installed in front of the church on a plinth of black granite featuring the inscription ‘Sursum corda’, or ‘Lift up your hearts’.

The church suffered some damage during the first days of World War II, yet it the 1944 Warsaw Uprising took a greater toll. The figure of Christ was taken away by the Germans who wanted to melt it down and reuse the material. It was recovered after the war, renovated and returned to its original spot on 19 July 1945. The church’s reconstruction lasted from 1945 to 1953. In the recent years, the building underwent major renovation which saw the replacement of many elements of the interior design which had been lost during the war.

The Holy Cross Church has witnessed many important events in the life of the city and the nation. Here, King Jan III Sobieski prayed for success before his expedition to Vienna in 1683 and Stanisław August Poniatowski had his coronation in 1764. Fryderyk Chopin’s heart is encased in a pillar in the main nave of the church. There are also numerous commemorative plaques and memorials to other great Poles: Juliusz Słowacki, Zygmunt Krasiński, Adam Mickiewicz, Bolesław Prus and Władysław Sikorski.