Art in Poland began to develop at the end of the century. X and in the first half of the century. XI under the influence of Western art. The first architects came with the clergy from Germany and especially from the banks of the Rhine. The most important monuments of that time are the churches in Krakow, those in Łęgczyca, Czerwińsk, Opatów, Płock, Strzelno, Kościelec and numerous other smaller ones that approach to the German Romanesque. The Byzantine churches of the Greek rite in eastern Poland were also influenced by Romanesque art (churches of Halicz and Sambor). Cistercian architecture developed in Poland in the century. XIII and came to merge the Romanesque elements with ogival motifs. The style of the Cistercian abbeys was not long in being used also in the constructions of the Dominican and Franciscan monks. The most beautiful well-preserved Cistercian abbeys are those of Sulejów, Wąchock and Mogiła. Among the Dominican churches of the century. XIII stands out the church of St. James in Sandomierz, which is the oldest example of Lombard construction and decoration in Poland.

According to itypeusa, the Gothic style developed in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and also in the sixteenth century, trying to adapt to the country, climate and local conditions (constructions based on combinations of bricks with stones). In the southern regions, and especially in Krakow, the influence of the French Gothic appears; instead the influences of the North German Gothic penetrated into northern Poland. The Gothic especially in the sixteenth century also influenced the churches of the Greek rite on the Polono-Lithuanian borders. Finally, the small wooden churches (eg the church in Dębno), dating back to the most ancient Slavic traditions, did not escape the influence of the Gothic.

At the beginning of the century XVI Poland was one of the first countries beyond the Alps that received the forms of Renaissance architecture directly from Italy. “Franciscus Italus” built the magnificent royal palace in Krakow from 1510 until his death in 1516. The Florentine Bartolomeo Berecci (v.) Finished this work and in 1518-1530; he also built the famous chapel at the Krakow cathedral. From 1531 until his death (around 1573) Gian Maria Mosca, known as Padovano, sculptor, medalist and architect worked in Krakow. The reconstruction of the medieval warehouse and the bishop’s palace are attributed to him in Krakow. The town hall was built in Poznań around 1550 on plans by Giovanni Battista di Quadro da Lugano. The most skilled disciple of Italian architects in Poland was Gabriele Sloński (1520-1598).

Of all the historical styles, the one that had the richest development in Poland is the Baroque, during which Italian influences continue to prevail, as in the Renaissance. It can already be seen in the church of Nieświez and in the church of St. Peter in Krakow erected by Giovanni Bernardone da Como (1541-1605). Andrea Spezza built in the first half of the century. XVII the church of the Camaldolese in Bielany near Krakow; Pietro da Barbone (coming from the surroundings of Padua and died in 1588), then Paolo Romano built at the end of the century. XVI and on the beginning of the century. XVII the church of the Greek rite in Lviv, where Paolo Romano himself in 1619 erected a chapel for the Kampiana family. The architects Tommaso Ragusano, Tommaso Poncino and Costantino Tencala also distinguished themselves. Polish architects also worked alongside them: Andrea Przychylny in Lviv; Bartolomeo Wǫsowski (1617-1687), author of the project for the monumental Jesuit church in Poznań; Adalberto Przybyłko in Poznań; Giovanni Zaor of Krakow who built the church of Saints Peter and Paul in Vilna in 1668-1684. Among the works of German and Flemish architects the most eminent are the chapel of the Boim family in Lviv, built for the most part by Pfister from Breslau, and the chapel of St. Casimir in Vilna, raised in 1656 by Dankerts de Ry. Among the Baroque civil buildings stand out: the palace of Podhorce, the bishop’s palace of Kielce and the ruins of the great palaces in Ujazdów, Janowiec, Wiśnicz, the house of Korniakt in Lviv, built by da Barbone, the palace of John Sobieski in Wilanów, raised by the Italians Agostino Loci, Bellotto Ceroni, with the collaboration of the Flemish Tylman, the Krasiński palace in Warsaw (1676-1700). The very noble church of St. Anna in Krakow, the work of Francesco Solari at the end of the century. XVII, is the last monument of the Italian Baroque in Poland.

Rococo architecture developed mainly under the influence of Dresden, with the architects of the King of Poland and of Saxony August II: MD Pöppelmann, Lonhelune, JK Knöffel, JD Jauch, Chiaveri. There was no lack of influences from Vienna and Prague: Giovanni de Witte directed the construction of the grandiose Dominican church in Lviv and perhaps also in Tarnopol. Bernardo Meretin built the church of St. George in Leopoli.

Near the end of the century. XVIII and in the first half of the following, numerous architects practiced the neoclassical style: among others Lorenzo Gucewicz (1753-1798), who rebuilt the cathedral of Vilna; Giacomo Kubicki (1758-1833), builder of the Belvedere palace in Warsaw and of small pretty country houses; Pietro Aigner (1760-1841), Stanislao Zawadzki (1743-1806), Carlo Podczaszyński (1790-1869) and the Italian Antonio Corazzi (1792-1877), builder of the Warsaw theater.

In the styles of imitation they built, in the 19th and 20th centuries, F. Księżarski, architect of the New College in Krakow, T. Stryjeński, Z. Hendel, S. Szyller, M. Lalewicz and many others. In modern style, the architects F. Maczyński, W. Krzyżanowski, A. Szyszko-Bohusz, Cz. Przybylski and others.