The Franciscan Church used to be the largest temple in Zamość and one of the largest churches in Poland. Its construction started in 1637 and the first Mass was celebrated here eighteen years later. The church was founded by the second Entailer Tomasz Zamoyski and his wife Katarzyna from the Ostrogski family. After the monastery was dissolved in 1784, the church was converted into a military storehouse and then into barracks in 1840. After 1918 the building housed different institutions, such as a museum and the “Stylowy” cinema and a theatre, to name just two. After the war part of the building housed State Secondary Art School. The Church started to make efforts to recover the temple before WW II and finally, in 1993, after two hundred years, Franciscan monks got their original seat back. Unfortunately, alterations carried out in the 19th century mutilated the building significantly. However, the preserved stone elements, the Corinthian pilasters and Baroque portal in the western wall (the former main entrance) in particular remind about the former splendour of the edifice.
