Kalwaria Zebrzydowska

Kalwaria Zebrzydowska
Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, south of Krakow, is a landscape park and a pilgrimage site. The layout was designed by Feliks Zebrowski in 1604. It intended to represent the landscape of Jerusalem at the time of Christ. It's an example of a so-called Calvary (a man-made landscape symbolizing the stages that led up to Christ's crucifixion), of which many were built in Europe in the 17th century.

The site includes a total of 44 buildings, among them many diverse chapels. It was named after its founder, Mikolaj Zebrzydowski, at the time governor of Krakow. The distances between the chapels here are longer than in Jerusalem itself, but within the same proportions.

Calvary . Mannerism . WHS Hotspot .



Visit February 2005

Hourly buses connect Cracow in about 50 minutes with the town of Kalwaria Zebrzydowska. Of course I took the wrong way from the local bus station at first, until I sensed that this road wouldn't take me anywhere else than the bleak outskirts of town. The correct way turned out to be a half an hour uphill walk. There are subtle marks to guide you though (signs to Kloiszter), and to make it even easier the large Benedictine monastery can be seen from almost everywhere in town.

This Benedictine monastery and its adjacent church are the major landmarks of the area. The church, where frequent services are held, is rather loud on colours and gold on the inside. I arrived just after a service had finished, and could still smell the strong odour of incense. Worth seeing also are the traditional wooden houses on the right of the church.

I had planned to walk along the Stations of the Cross on this Polish Via Dolorosa. There are three separate tracks however, none of them too visible under some 30 cm of snow. Without clear directions I just roamed around a bit. In all, I was a little disappointed with my visit. I had expected Kalwaria to be more of an active pilgrimage site. Probably I just arrived in the wrong season.

More photos can be found in the Picture Gallery

Reviews

Christer Sundberg (Sweden):
Some 40 km south of Krakow, by the foot of the mountains, lies Kalwaria Zebrydowska. It is Polands second most important pilgrimage centre in the Catholic Church and was commissioned for the Bernadine Order in 1600.

Today its famous for its Eastern Passion Plays and if you are around here at that time it is said to be absolutely swamped with people. At my own visit it was less crowded but sales of Catholic merchandise was still high in the monastery shop.

The surrounding hilly landscape was found to resemble Jerusalem and a plan to build 24 small chapels was laid out in the early 17th century. Today you can take a six-kilometre walk on th hills and visit all the small chapels, built in honour of the Saviour. If I felt less religious or if it was the intense heat on this warm summer day of my visit, I will never know but my visit to Kalwaria Zebrydowska was limited to the beautiful main church and its adjacent monastery. Its not a must-see Heritage Site but if you have a day to spare it’s a nice excursion away from the tourist crowds in Krakow.
Date posted: September 2006
David Berlanda (Italy / Czech Republic):
In our trip to Poland we have been to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, situated between two river valleys (Skawa and Raba) and two mountains (Żar and Lochorońska), where are situated also the ruins of two medieval castles, in a forest zone. There is a Mannerist pilgrimage park, founded by the family of Zebrzydowski, and projected by the italian Jesuit Gian Maria Bernardoni, with buildings disposed in the natural landscape. There you can find Italian Renaissance and French Baroque park design with Mannerist freedom and irregularity and a lot of beautiful views and panoramas. Around the ellipse layout of the park are the main buildings and roads that symbolize the buildings and streets of the Passion in Jerusalem, that were used by pilgrims. In the forest or at the end of long avenues are 42 big decorated chapels with a high degree of originality of forms, compositions, details and symbolic purposes: of the Hearth of the Virgin Mary (hearth-shaped plan), House of Caiphas (ellipse), House of Annas (triangle), House of Our Lady (triangle linked with semi-circles), House of Pilate (Greek cross), Holy Sepulchre (rectangle with semi-circular apses), of the Ascension (octagon containing a square), of the Last Supper (elongated rectangle), East Gate of Jerusalem (square with corner pilasters), Palace of Herod… Various techniques, colours and materials were used: unrendered stone and brick, dressed stone and rendered and plastered brick; the roofs are made of copper or zinc sheets or ceramic tiles; the way in which details are applied derives from The Netherlands. Dados and entablatures are used for horizontal divisions and half-columns or pilasters for vertical divisions. Elements of Tuscan, Ionic and Composite orders are used with rusticated faces and surrounds to doors and circular or oval windows; there are also strapwork ornaments, blind arches, corn or acorn pendants, domes with stucco decorations and pulpits in stone and brick on the facades. The interiors have original furniture, decorations and blocks with the inscription "Terra Santa", that contain soil from Jerusalem. Between them there are two large churches. The first is the Baroque church of the Grave of the Virgin, constructed on two levels (one representing the Grave and the other the Ascension), that is in broken stone blocks and has a saddleback roof with a central spire, a strong podium and a rectangular plan with an apse and and entrance porch; inside there is a beautiful sarcophagus made by Paulus Bandarth. The church of the Crucifixion has an elongated rectangular plan with a bipartite interior with compound vaulting and a saddleback roof with a spire. The tripartite facade has three entrances and four projections; double Tuscan pilasters support an entablature decorated with symbolic subjects; inside there are beautiful paintings by Franciszek Lekszycki. In the park, along the avenues, are also many detached resdentia houses: some of them are wooden single-storeyed buildings, with an attic, verandahs and saddleback roofs in many materials. The church of Our Lady of the Angels and the Bernardine Monastery are situated on a mountain and are Baroque masterpieces. The church has a high two-storeyed front with two towers, with Baroque roofs, separeted by a pediment. The interior has an unaisled nave with an elongated choir, three separate chapels with domed roofs, original furniture, altars, choir stalls, statues and a nice pulpit. The monastery has two internal cloisters and a three-storey facade with five projections and lunettes.
I liked very much the site because of the quality and variety of the architecture. It's worth to be visited if you are in the Little Poland (if you want to visit all the 42 chapel you must walk for 7 km) and justifies the inscription.
Photo: Kalwaria Zebrzydowska - Church of Our Lady of the Angels
Date posted: February 2006
Roman (Czechia):
The place is about 40 km away from Cracow an is well visible from the way to Bielsko-Biala. There is an early baroque cloister with a big church, which is full of pilgrims. The most interesting is a hill over the church.There is a grove with about 40 chapels, showing the crucifiction and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The hill is not much crowded, as there is a lot of space for the pilgrims groups. The chapels are build in different styles so the walk among them is quiet interesting.
 


Have you been to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Architectural and Park Landscape Complex and Pilgrimage Park ? Share your experiences!

Add your own review