Wadowice Off The Beaten Path Tips by matcrazy1 Top 5 Page for this destination

Look at Solidarity logo

Have you ever heard about Walesa and Solidarity movement?
Look at logo of "Solidarity" by the entrance to the town museum. There is a headquarter of local Solidarity trade union there.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
"Solidarity" that is "Solidarnosc" in Polish was born as a trade union after the Gdansk shipyard strike and many more strikes throughout Poland in 1980. In September 1981 Walesa was elected Solidarity Chairman at the First National Solidarity Congress in Gdansk. In real it was not a trade union but strong, independent movement for human rights and dignity in still communist country - first sign of the end of Soviet communism.

The country's brief enjoyment of hmm... very relative freedom ended in December 1981, when General Jaruzelski, fearing Soviet armed intervention among other considerations, imposed martial law, "suspended" Solidarity, arrested many of its leaders, and interned Walesa in a country house in a remote spot. Walesa was released in 1982 and he was awarded Peace Nobel Prize in 1983.

The Jaruzelski regime became even more unpopular as economic conditions worsened, and it was finally forced to negotiate with Walesa and his Solidarity colleagues. The result was the holding of parliamentary elections in 1989 which, although limited, led to the establishment of a non-communist government - first in Eastern Europe.

In November 1989 Walesa became the third person in history, after the Marquis de Lafayette and Winston Churchill, to address a joint session of the United States Congress.

In April 1990 at Solidarity's second national congress, Walesa was elected chairman with 77.5% of the votes. In December 1990 in a general ballot he was elected President of the Republic of Poland. He served until defeated in the election of November 1995.

Main altar

Main altar of the Basilica of Devotion of Holy Virgin Mary is located at the end of wide and long main nave. It's very decorative and contains a painting of Holy Virgin Mary. It's the best lighted altar of the basilica as well.

Side altar

Look at one more side altar of the Basilica of Devotion of Holy Virgin Mary. There are always lighted candles in decorative candlesticks standing on all altars. And as usuall the painting which depects scenes from the holy bible.

Look up

Look up at the vaults and decorated ceiling of the Basilica of Devotion of Holy Virgin Mary. There are paintings - portraits of various famous priests there. The basilica was renovated recently and they look amazing now. Am I wrong?

Painting on ceiling

There is a large colorfull painting on the ceiling of the Basilica of Devotion of Holy Virgin Mary just above the main nave. It depicts the bible scene of devotion of Holy Virgin Mary. Notice the holy cross with crucified Jesus Christ just below the painting.

Side altars

There are a few side altars inside the Baroque Basilica of Devotion of Holy Virgin Mary. Don't miss them whenever you go inside. They look really interesting and... it's easier to take a picture of them during holy mass.

In the middle of the Chapel of the Holy Cross (also called Tomicka Chapel), there is a Neo Gothic altar in the colour of cream, built in 1903.

Famous image of St. Mary

We saw the famous picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is in the Chapel of the Holy Cross inside the Basilica of Devotion of Holy Virgin Mary. The picture arrived in Wadowice with redemptorist priests. No one knows who and when painted it.
The cult of Our Lady of Perpetual Help developed in the Wadowice Region at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century.

The painting of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is the one of the most popular images of St. Mary in the Christian world.

One more side altar

There is a side altar with large decorative candlesticks and two large ferns on both sides inside the Basilica of Devotion of Holy Virgin Mary. I liked it a lot including the wall-painting above the altar (look at previous tip).

Religious wall-paintings

There are a lot of wall paintings inside the basilica. We found this wall-painting with crucified Jesus Christ above one of a few side altars inside the Basilica of Devotion of Holy Virgin Mary. Pay attention to the typical perspective, panoramic view in lower part of the painting.

Fountain

The town square in front of the Basilica of Devotion of Holy Virgin Mary is called John Paul II square now (Plac Jana Pawla II).
There is a beautiful stone fountain there as you can see on my picture. The square seems to be favourite place to meet people in tiny town of Wadowice.