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Bielany Monastery
in Krakow
Cameldolite monks subject themselves to
the extremely severe rules of their order to live
simple, peaceful, secluded life close to God in
their beautiful Krakow hermitage atop Srebrna
Gora (Silver Mountain). The four-storied crypts
of the 17th-century fine Baroque monastery
contain naturally mummified bodies of many
generations of their predecessors. The dead and
the alive seem equally indifferent and almost
equally inaccessible to visitors coming here
either by road (which makes a ten minutes’
drive from the Krakow center) or by boat up the
Vistula river from the port at the foot of the
Royal Castle’s Wawel Hill. Male
tourists are admitted to the church any day from 8 a.m. to 11
a.m. and 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Yet women can visit it just 12
days in the year, i.e. March 25, Easter, May 3, Pentecost and
following Monday, Sunday after June 19, July’s 2nd and 4th
Sundays, August’s 1st Sunday, August 15, September 8, and
December 25. Yet from springtime through autumn the
vast Bielany forest around the monastery is
traditionally Krakow’s favorite picnic
destination. It seems worth visiting for splendid
panorama too. And every Whitsuntide a popular
folk feast takes place here.
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Krakow
churches
Krakow numerous churches are
architectural gems, art hoards, and spiritual
hubs
Wawel Cathedral
Poland's impressive national shrine
dates from the 14th century and shelters plenty
of superb church art. The Sigismund Chapel is a
masterpiece of the Renaissance art and
architecture. Giant Zygmunt
bell of 1520 ranks with the world's
largest. Most Polish
kings are buried here together with the
greatest national heroes.
Basilica of the
Virgin Mary's
Immense Gothic church, the city of
Krakow's principal temple since the 13th century,
boasts the world's greatest
Gothic sculpture among its many excellent
works of art. Huge stained-glass widows of the
chancel date from the 14th century.
Skalka Sanctuary
Poland’s second holiest shrine at the
site of St. Stanislav’s 1079 martyrdom.
Splendid Baroque church and fine monastery
modeled on a Renaissance castle.
Tyniec Abbey
Hilltop monastery-fortress dates
from the 11th c.
St. Norbert's
Convent
Vast fortified complex on the Vistula
river is home to Krakow’s once powerful
Premonstratensian Sisters since the 12th c.
Sanctuary of the
Lord's Mercy
Humble nun’s visions in the 1930s
gave rise to a world-wide spiritual movement
inside the Catholic Church, ever stronger
nowadays, with the center in her Krakow convent.
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