Pauline Church of SS Michael & Stanislaus

Skałka, as this functioning monastery and religious shrine is called locally, dates to the early days of the Polish kingdom. In 1079, Bishop Stanisław Szczepanowski, later declared a Polish patron saint, was beheaded here by King Bolesław Śmiały (Boleslaus the Bold): the tree trunk where the deed was done is next to the altar. The church's baroque look comes from a mid-18th-century redesign. The crypt (closed December to February) shelters several eminent cultural figures, including Nobel-winning poet Czesław Miłosz (1911-2004).