Kalwaria Zebrzydowska

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Kalwaria Zebrzydowska
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HISTORY

• Kalwaria Zebrzydowska is one of the most
  important sanctuary in Poland. The basilica, the
  Franciscan monastery and the avenues make up this
  unique pilgrimage complex. Generally calvary is a
  complex of churches or chapels symbolizing
  stations of the Passion. Kalwaria Zebrzydowska is
  the first and the biggest calvary in Poland and
  it was built on the pattern of calvary in
  Jerusalem.
• The main founder of Kalwaria was Mikolaj
  Zebrzydowski. In 1600 he ordered to build a
  chapel of Sacred Cross on the mountain of Zarek
  and in 1601 he decided to build a chapel of the
  Tomb of Christ modeled on similar temples in
  Jerusalem. Church and monastery were built in
  1604-1609 and Mikolaj Zebrzydowski invited the
  franciscan fathers and brothers (in Polish called
  Bernardyni) to Kalwaria to look after this holy
  place.

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• The building of the chapels of the stations of
  the Cross and others, 24 in total, took until
  1617 and it was supervised by Paul Baudarth.
• In 1620, after Mikolaj Zebrzydowskis death,
  building work was carried out by his son Jan
  Zebrzydowski. He built five chapels of the
  stations of the Cross and eight of our Lady. He
  also extended chapels of Sacred Cross and of the
  Tomb of our Lady. Michal Zebrzydowski, the son of
  Jan, was the next founder. He extended monastery
  and built a chapel of Our Lady, where the
  miraculous painting of Our Lady of Kalwaria was
  put in. This painting was ceremoniously crowned
  in 1887. Magdalena Czartoryska was the last great
  founder of Kalwaria and she extended church.

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Kalwaria in the past
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Pope in Kalwaria

• In 1979, 1991 and 2002 pope John Paul II visited
  Kalwaria and he reminded his worship for Our
  Lady of Kalwaria and sanctuary from his
  childhood. In 2006 Kalwaria was visited by pope
  Benedict XVI. Its still popular place of
  pilgrimage for people from Poland and all over
  the world.

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Marias devotion

• Marias devotion in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska had
  its
• beginnings at the times of Mikolaj Zebrzydowski.
  It was
• Mikolaj Zebrzydowski who procured the title of
  Our
• Lady of the Angels for the main church in the
  front altar of
• which he put Her silver statue. The sculpture,
  bought in
• Loretto in Italy, was worshipped for the first 40
  years of the
• sanctuarys existence.
• Mikolaj Zebrzydowski built two Marian chapels
• The Hut  and Our Ladys Tomb while his son Jan
  added 8
• more Marian chapels at which the pilgrims started
  holding
• Marian Avenues services called Our Ladys Avenues
  Service.
• The service has become very popular since then.
• Nowadays it is composed of three parts Sorrow,
  Falling asleep and Assumption and it is willingly
  practised by pilgrims both during indulgence
  fairs and at other times.

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Image of Our Lady

• The miraculous painting was created at the end
  of XVII
• century and his first owner was Stanislaw
  Paszkowski. On the
• 3rd May 1641 during everyday prayer Elzbieta
  Paszkowska
• noticed tears of blood on the image flowing out
  from the
• Mother of God's eyes. Paszkowski was asked to
  give the
• painting to the church in Marcyporeba.
• As the legend says going through the forest he
  felt some
• invisible force which made him go to Kalwaria and
  left the
• paiting there. In 1656 it was presented to the
  public worship
• again and placed in the main church in the altar
  of St. Anna.
• In the years 1658-1667 Mikolaj Zebrzydowski
  built a special
• chapel to hold it and the image was placed in it
  in 1667. The
• image made Kalwaria Zebrzydowska an important
  centre for
• the Marian devotion besides the so far existing
  passion
• devotion and increased the number of pilgrims. On
  15 August
• 1887 the Kalwaria image was crowned in the
  so-called Valley
• of Josaphat, in front of the church of Our
  Ladys Tomb by a
• Cracovian bishop Albin Dunajewski in the presence
  of
• thousands of pilgrims. That fact caused the
  Marian devotion

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Kalwarian Avenues

• The area covering about 6 square km has, accept
  for the basilica, 41 sacral facilities connected
  by the famous weaving Klawarian Paths which sum
  up to be over 5 km long. They interlace
  eachother, they come apart and join many times,
  and most of the facilities serve them
  simultaneously. Generally we divide them into
• -Jesus Christs  Paths(28 stations)
• -Mother Mary's Paths (24 stations)
• The terrain has a slight mountainous character
  and some of the approaches, for example the
  mountain of crucification, require an amount of
  energy. Wandering along the paths is not only a
  way of getting to know the next stages of the
  secret of redemption and meeting God. It's also
  finding a link with your brethren , in the
  beskidian nature, because Kalwaria is mostly
  visited in groups.

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The Passion of Christ Devotion

• The Jesus Christ Avenues service, modelled on
  Jerusalem
• celebrations, developed within the first years of
  after the
• Calvarys construction. Since then it has always
  created
• the main form of passion piety in Kalwaria
• Zebrzydowska.
• There is a specific ritual of this service
  containing various
• meditations, prayers and songs said (sung)
  successively at
• 28 stations of Christs Passion. Initially the
  service was held
• on holidays Finding (3rd May) and Heightening
  (14th
• September) the Holy Cross, on each Lent Friday
  and particularly
• on Good Friday. Later, and so it has been so far,
  there appeared a
• habit of holding the service by individual groups
  of pilgrims or
• individual pilgrims during both Kalwarian
  indulgence fairs with
• Good Week and Assumption indulgence fairs
  especially and
• besides them while on pilgrimage to Kalwaria.

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The Paradise Square

• In front of the basilica there is a huge square,
  called The Paradise Square. There are 24
  confessionals from the middle of the 19th
  century. The Square is closed with an iron
  balustrade and ten stone posts on which stone
  figures stand. There are also monumental steps
  from 1927-1932 leading from the Paradise Square
  to the entrance to the basilica.

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World Heritage Committee

• On 1st December 1999 the World Heritage
  Committee, UNESCO, had inscribed the Mannerist
  Architectural and Park landscape complex and
  Pilgrimage Park on the World Heritage List.
  Justification for inscription is

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• Kalwaria Zebrzydowska is an exceptional cultural
  monument in which the natural landscape was used
  as the setting for a symbolic representation in
  the form of chapels and avenues of the events of
  the Passion of Christ. The result is a cultural
  landscape of great beauty and spiritual quality
  in which natural and man-made elements combine in
  a harmonious manner.
• The Counter Reformation in the late 16th century
  led to a flowering in the creation of Calvaries
  in Europe. Kalwaria Zebrzydowska is an
  outstanding example of this type of large-scale
  landscape design, which incorporates natural
  beauty with spiritual objectives and the
  principles of Baroque park design.1
• 1 http//whc.unesco.org

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