Vincenzo Brenna

The concept of erecting the Providence church, included in the Constitution of 3 May, was sparked by the idea to build a church in Ujazdów that had occurred to the king a dozen years previously. Conceived as a deistic, multi-denominational temple where the ‘Supreme ruler’ takes the place of God, the building reflected freemason beliefs shared by the creators of the ‘Government Act’, including King Stanisław August and Marshall of the Four-Year Sejm Stanisław Małachowski. The first ever architectural competition in Poland was announced to design the temple in Ujazdów, which Jakub Kubicki won. His design retained deistic thinking—the temple he proposed did not have a cross atop the dome. Only the act of the Sejm from 17 March 1921, adopted under pressure from the bishops, changed the character of the church to strictly Catholic.