Things to do in Wambierzyce
- Sort by:
- Popular
-
Church of Mary
A flight of 33 steps – Christ’s age when he was crucified – leads to the squat, 50m-wide façade of the Church of Mary, its palatial appearance underwritten by the complete absence of towers. The side entrance takes you into the square cloister running around the church, lined with chapels and Stations of the Cross; the walls are densely adorned with folk paintings of Mary and old votive pictures. In the chapel west of the main altar you’ll find a relic of one of Poland’s modern saints, Zygmunt Gorazdowski (1845–1920), a native of Polish Lwów (now Lviv in Ukraine) who fought in the 1863 uprising, despite severe pulmonary problems, and later become a pioneering pries…
reviewed
-
Bethlehem Crèche
East of the church you’ll find the Bethlehem Crèche, a set of mechanised Nativity scenes. The main one includes 800 tiny figurines carved from lime wood, 300 of which move. Other scenes portray the Crucifixion, the Last Supper and the Massacre of the Holy Innocents. The crèche took a local craftsman 28 years to carve.
reviewed
-
Calvary
The hill opposite the church is dotted with a motley collection of chapels, gates, grottoes and sculptures connected with the Passion of Christ and collectively known as Calvary. It was established in the late 17th century to mirror the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem and was subsequently extended to include 74 chapels.
reviewed
-
Ethnographic Open-Air Museum
The result of 10 years’ work by the eccentric packrat owner, this is a museum featuring just about everything you could think of, including antiques, old household implements, minerals, stuffed birds and miners’ uniforms, plus a small zoo. It’s free, but donations are appreciated.
reviewed
-
Karczma Kowala
This bright little place east of the church, on the way to the crèche, serves hearty Polish fare to hungry pilgrims.
reviewed
