City stumps up for Pope's altar

"The altar will be situated on a platform of 53 to 40 meters. A 20-meter high cross will dominate over the scene, which is a bigger replica of the cross from 1979 when Pope John Paul II first visited Poland," said Adrian Biel from the City's Expansion Management (ZRM) department. "There are also plans to build two other platforms for the media and the orchestra."

The altar's designer is ATJ Architekci, a studio selected by the Warsaw Archdiocese. "It is the first time that we have designed an altar for the Pope," says Tomasz Kwieciński from ATJ. The altar will be constructed in the area of ul. Moliera, in the vicinity of the Józef Piłsudski monument.

The church is no stranger to big budget projects, and zł.1 million is a trifle compared to the zł.100 million that it will need to raise to finish its controversial Temple of Holy Providence in Warsaw's Wilanów district. The temple's concept dates back to 1791 when the Four-Year Parliament decided to construct the church. The idea reemerged in the late 1980s.

"After communism collapsed I thought I have the moral obligation to initiate the construction of the temple, which the Poles promised God as a thanksgiving for his gift of freedom. An additional occasion for the thanksgiving was regaining freedom in 1989 and John Paul's pontificate," Primate of Poland and Archbishop of Warsaw Józef Glemp told the Catholic Information Agency. He calculated that so far the construction has cost zł.40 million. He stressed that the works are already so advanced that the project cannot be withdrawn from. Currently, works are ongoing on an administration building and the underground church is already completed.

The Sejm recently accepted a proposal to spend zł.20 million on the temple. As the State is not allowed to finance church investments, Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz decided to change the project's nomenclature, declaring that the money will be spent on cultural outposts accompanying the temple.