hop welcomed King Casimir III the Great, who donated a substantial sum of money and greatly contributed to the reconstruction of Gniezno. At the end of the fourteenth century the construction of the chancel and large nave was completed. In 1419 the archbishops of Gniezno were given the title of primate and represented the country in Rome as cardinals. The first appointed primate of Poland and cardinal was Mikołaj Trąba.
In 1613 a fire destroyed the spires, roof and two frontal towers of the temple. Seven years later, Adam of Wągrowiec came to the Cathedral to try out the newly installed pipe organs. In the years 1641-1652 Primate Maciej Łubieński conducted a reconstruction project of the interior in the baroque style. In 1760, another fire broke out which resulted in the collapse of both towers, the star vault as well as the chancel. In the next few years the interior was completely rebuilt in classical architectural style with small elements of the now diminishing baroque style. The reconstruction was initiated by Primate Władysław Aleksander Łubieński.
In 1809, the French army installed a military warehouse in the Cathedral which was removed when Napoleon's troops left the area. In 1931, Pope Pius XI bestowed the title of the Minor Basilica Cathedral. In 1939, following the Invasion of Poland, the Nazis converted the temple into a concert hall. In 1945, another fire broke out which was caused by the intentional incendiary artillery shelling by the Red Army. This partially ruined the Gothic vault and consequently also the pipe organs and other historical architectural details. The city was re-taken by the Soviets without any resistance offered by the Germans. At the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, the temple was fully restored in the Gothic style and all baroque architectural elements were subsequently removed from the nave and the temple itself, giving it a more medieval look to specifically resemble the original structure present during the coronation of Polish monarchs eight hundred years earlier.
On 3 June 1979 Pope John Paul II visited the cathedral.
The elliptical cupola covering the late-baroque Potocki Chapel, designed by Pompeo Ferrari and built 1727-1730, is the most beautiful in the cathedral. The parietal tomb of Archbishop Teodor Potocki (d. 1738), who pronounced Stanisław I Leszczyński king upon the death of Augustus II the Strong, and the epitaph of Ignacy Krasicki, poet and Archbishop of Gniezno (d. 1801).
The 14th-century Kołudzki Chapel was renovated in 1647 with consistent interior furnishings. The four corners of the world are personified on the mid-18th-century polychrome vault. The early-baroque portal with its 17th-century renaissance grille from Gdańsk is one of Poland’s greatest blacksmithing achievements. The foundation plaque of the chapel has Szymon Kołudzki’s (d. 1656), portrait, epitaph and tombstone.
St. Nicholas Chapel, also known as Dzierzgowski Chapel, dates from the 14th century. The Gothic arcade has the remains of 14th-century Gothic sculptural ornamentation featuring hunting scenes engraved in artificial stone and a mid-16th century renaissance polychrome. The chapel is embellished with two precious renaissance tombstones: the first was sculpted from red marble by Bartolommeo Berecci and features the reclining figure of Abp. Andrzej Krzycki (d. 1573), humanist and politician; the second was for Abp. Mikołaj Dzierzgowski (d. 1559), a supporter of Queen Bona Sforza, and was sculpted from sandstone and red marble by Hieronim Canavesi. There is also a round tondo with the Madonna of Giovanni Maria Padovano in the copestone.
The Łubieński Chapel was created 1642-1648 by joining two medieval chapels and restructured along early-classicist lines in 1778. The early-baroque portals from c. 1640 are made of marble and closed with renaissance grilles from Gdańsk. The early-baroque tomb of Archbishop Maciej Łubieński (d. 1652) is made of marble and alabaster. The altar painting from 1646 has portraits of Łubieński family members.
The Cathedral is a three-nave basilica-looking structure with polygo