The first parish in Płock formed at the collegiate church of St. Michael. For almost 600 years it was the only parish the local community had. In 1180, a school was founded at the collegiate church. It remains the oldest school in Poland to still exist in the same location in which it was founded. In the mid-fourteenth century, Bishop Klemens moved the parish from the collegiate church to the new church of St. Bartholomew built in 1356. The church was a single-nave, gothic construction. In accordance with sacral architectural tradition, the church was oriented; that is to say the main altar faced east, towards the town hall and the main entrance led out to the old Nadwiślańska Street which faced the Vistula river. For 300 years, the church remained a splendid gothic building. Later it was rebuilt, receiving its renaissance elements. Eventually, it adopted a baroque décor.
The author of the 1540 renaissance reconstruction was Jan Baptysta, the Venetian. In the 15th and 16th centuries, a wreath of 5 chapels funded by Płock townspeople was added to the nave of the church. During this period, the church was furnished with 22 altars.
After the Swedish wars, the church entered the 18th century badly damaged. In the year 1732, Bishop Andrzej Stanisław Kostka Załuski moved the collegiate to the church of St. Bartholomew. The funds obtained from the transfer of the collegiate church and the chapter were allocated to the reconstruction of the church. The works were carried out in the years 1740-1770. All side chapels were demolished, the number of altars was reduced to seven, and the belfry was separated from the church building. In the years 1760-1775 the orientation of the church was also changed with the former chancel being turned into a fronton. This, apart from some minor changes, largely describes the situation of the church today. In the attic, the upper fragments of the pointed-arched windows of the presbytery have been preserved and in 2007, the original western portal of the church was discovered.
In 1819, the collegiate church and the chapter were dissolved. In 1856, the main altar from the Płock church of St. Wojciech was moved to this church. The altar, made of black, dębnik marble, was designed by the outstanding architect Mateo. In 1884, a new brick belfry and vicarage were built.
The interior polychrome, designed by prof. Władysław Drapiewski, was completed by the Jędrzejewski brothers in the years 1939-1943. After the war, in 1948, Władysław Drapiewski himself completed part of the polychrome. In the years 1991-1994, painting and goldsmithing works were carried out in the church.
During the German occupation (1939-1945), the church of St. Bartholomew was the only church in Płock in which pastoral ministry was carried out and sacraments were administered to the faithful. In May 1946, it served as a pro-cathedral during the ingress of Bishop Tadeusz Paweł Zakrzewski of Płock.
In 1959, the roof was renovated. In 1988, a new parish house was built.
In 1931, the parish of St. Stanisław Kostka was separated from the parish of St. Bartholomew. In 1965, the cathedral parish was also separated. Similarly, in 1970, the parish of St. John the Baptist, in 1981 the parish of St. Jadwiga, in 1995 the parish of the Holy Spirit were all separated.
The parish owns the cemetery at Kobyliński Street in which, in 1901, the Płock industrialist Stanisław Górnicki built the St. Elizabeth chapel. Since 1963, it has served as a filial church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
In 1991, the first Catholic radio station in Poland was established in the parish building - Catholic Radio Płock.
In 2006, the church celebrated its 650th anniversary.
In the years 2009-2014, a general renovation of the church was carried out as part of the revitalization of the Płock parish church.
On Holy Thursday 2nd April 2015, the Bishop of Płock, Piotr Libera, restored to the parish of St. Bartholomew, the dignity of the collegiate church and restituted, after 196 years, the Collegiate Chapter of St. Michael.
On September 26th 2018, Holy Mass was celebrated in the Płock collegiate church by Polish cardinals, archbishops and bishops who gathered in Płock for the Conference of the Polish Episcopate.
Important events also took place in two monasteries located in the territory of the parish.
In September 1919, at Teatralna Street, the first house of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ was built. On November 18th 2006, the mortal remains of the foundress of the Congregation, mother Joanna Józefa Hałacińska, were placed in our church sarcophagus.
In the Płock convent of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, on February 22nd 1931, Sister Faustina Kowalska had her first apparition, during which she was ordered to paint the image of the Merciful Jesus with the signature "Jesus, I trust in You"!
