Kalwaria Zebrzydowska is a small town, located in the southwestern part of the Wieliczka Foothills, about 40 kilometers from the center of Kraków. The town is known primarily for its unique Marian and Passion sanctuary, erected at the beginning of the 17th century and inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1999. Beyond the beautiful Baroque basilica and the Bernardine monastery buildings, the complex includes a multitude of small sacred architectural sites, scattered along the so-called “Calvary paths”—the Paths of the Mother of God and the Paths of the Lord Jesus.
I visited Kalwaria Zebrzydowska during a winter loop through the Wieliczka Foothills and the Maków Beskids. I will describe the sanctuary, therefore, in a rather unconventional way, namely as a fragment and a scenic variation of a trekking route. In this post, we will enter the Calvary paths complex from the direction of Lanckorona. After visiting the basilica, we will conquer the nearby Żar hill (527 m a.s.l.) with the ruins of a medieval castle.
Table of Contents
From the history of the sanctuary
The late 18th century brought an exceptionally dense and restless night to Lanckorona. On the castle walls, the wind tore at the banners, and in the chambers of the Voivode of Kraków, Mikołaj Zebrzydowski, a pious silence reigned, interrupted only by the crackle of logs in the fireplace. The Voivode and his wife, Urszula, stood by a heavy oak window, looking at the hill of Żar looming in the darkness. Suddenly, the night sky was torn not by lightning, but by a strange, unnatural glow. Pillars of fire erupted above the wooded slope of the mountain, soon taking the form of three brightly burning crosses. This vision was to solidify Zebrzydowski’s decision to transform the Żar hill into a Polish Jerusalem…
The first structure of the new sanctuary—the Church of the Crucifixion—was built in 1600 based on models brought a year earlier from Jerusalem. At first, there was to be only one chapel, but Voivode Zebrzydowski quickly changed his plans. The magnate decided to bring the Bernardine order to his estates, and between 1604 and 1609, he built a monumental church and monastery for them. Since appetite grows with eating, after the church was built, Zebrzydowski funded twelve Stations of the Cross and the Hermitage of the Five Polish Brothers. In 1620, after the death of the sanctuary’s creator, his work was continued by his successors—his son Jan and grandson Michał—who added dozens more chapels and expanded the church.
In 1641, the church was presented with an icon of Our Lady of Kalwaria (Our Lady of Weeping), with which a significant development of the Marian cult in the sanctuary is associated.
The unique structure of the sanctuary, strikingly resembling the topography of the hills surrounding Jerusalem, attracted crowds of pilgrims almost from its very beginning. To serve the emerging pilgrimage traffic, the town of Zebrzydów (the present-day Kalwaria Zebrzydowska) developed at the foot of the monastery. The town was charted for the first time in 1617, and in 1640 the market square was laid out and compact buildings began to be erected.
During the times of the partitions, Kalwaria only gained in importance, becoming both a center of Galician spirituality and a stronghold of Polish identity. Further honors came at the end of the 20th century. In 1979, John Paul II raised the Kalwaria church to the rank of a minor basilica, and in 1999, the entire sanctuary complex was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Visiting the sanctuary
Hiking the black trail – from Lanckorona
We hike to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska along the black PTTK hiking trail, connecting the Lanckorona market square with the train station. We just descended from the wooded slope of Lanckorona Mountain, and we continue the excursion along the asphalt road, along Legionistów Street. After a few minutes, we leave Lanckorona, entering among the buildings of the village of Brody. A moment later, we reach the first chapels that are part of the so-called Calvary paths.
The Calvary paths are, in essence, two separate pilgrimage trails—the Paths of the Lord Jesus and the Paths of the Mother of God, involving a walk past several dozen sacred objects: small churches, chapels, and statues. The Paths of the Lord Jesus are about 10 kilometers long and have 28 stations, distributed among 24 objects. The Paths of the Mother of God are about 6 kilometers long and include 24 stations in 11 objects. The paths intertwine, and some of the chapels are part of both the first and second routes. Each of the stations serves to draw attention to one of the important issues related to the Passion or Marian cult, respectively.
During our trip, we first pass the Garden of Gethsemane and the Chapel of the Arrest, which are part of the Paths of the Lord Jesus. After walking another few hundred meters, we emerge in front of one of the most magnificent objects of the entire Calvary, namely the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Brody. The Zebrzydowskis built the temple in the years 1615-1642, and subsequent owners took care of its expansion. At first, it was the Chapel of the Tomb of the Mother of God, in the shape of a sarcophagus. A separate parish was organized in 1992, on the basis of a pastoral center that had been operating for several years.
After passing the church, we continue our walk along the black trail, crossing the Angelic Bridge over the Cedron river. The structure is over 120 years old, fitting perfectly into the aesthetics of the nearby chapels. On the other side of the river, the trail leads along a wide path, leading through a vast open area. Soon, we cross the railway tracks and come to another interesting point – a small war cemetery from the First World War. The necropolis arouses some confusion in us, because as far as we know, Kalwaria Zebrzydowska was not directly on the front line. The riddle is solved quite quickly. It turns out that patients of local field hospitals, located some distance from the main combat zones, lie in the cemetery.
Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels and monastery buildings
The black hiking trail leads directly under the Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels, and then follows the asphalt, passing the Kalwaria market square and ending its run at the Kalwaria Zebrzydowska Lanckorona train station. We, of course, do not descend into the center, and instead take a longer break in the main temple of the sanctuary.
The basilica was erected in the late Baroque style. In front of the main entrance, there is a spacious indulgence square (Paradise Square) with statues of St. Francis and St. Anthony. The interior was also maintained in the Baroque style, with a small admixture of Rococo. Elements such as gilding, marble, and full-of-dynamism sculptures dominate. It is worth paying attention to the polychromes covering the ceilings, made by a well-known artist from the Podhale region—Władysław Przerwa-Tetmajer. Three side chapels were placed in the basilica. In the most important of them, adjacent directly to the presbytery, the miraculous icon of Our Lady of Kalwaria is displayed.
The monastery buildings belonging to the Bernardine order are directly adjacent to the basilica. Some of the corridors have been made accessible to visitors. With their help, one can easily transport from Paradise Square to the monastery courtyard, which functions as a kind of tourist center. We will find there both restaurants, ice cream parlors, cafes, and a spacious pilgrim house.
Along the paths on the slopes of Żar
After visiting the interior of the basilica and walking around its surroundings, we continue our trip through the Calvary paths. We take the green PTTK hiking trail and begin a several-dozen-meter ascent up the slopes of the Żar mountain. After just a few minutes, we reach another group of chapels that are part of the Calvary paths. The largest object is the Church of the Crucifixion, and next to it—the Church of the Tomb of the Lord Jesus, the Chapel of Anointing, and the Chapel of Stripping. Slightly hidden behind the Church of the Crucifixion is the Hermitage of St. Helena, which is no longer part of the paths.
The Church of the Crucifixion is the first sacred site that was built on the territory of today’s Kalwaria Zebrzydowska. The building was erected already in the years 1600-1601, on the basis of original plans of Jerusalem, brought to Zebrzydowski by Hieronim Strzała. Later, the temple was expanded, adapting its size to the needs of the increasingly magnificent sanctuary.
Beyond the aforementioned group of chapels, there is a junction of trails. The green hiking trail leads to the right, the Calvary paths—to the left, back down the slope. The pilgrim path leads to the small Church of the Third Fall, and then falls between the dense buildings of the village of Bugaj. I had the opportunity to visit several chapels in this village a few weeks after the described trip. They are truly charming, constituting, as it were, the quintessence and the best edition of the small-scale sacred architecture of the Małopolska region.
Żar (527 m a.s.l.)
Continuing along the green hiking trail, we arrive at the last object that is still part of the Calvary sanctuary complex—the Hermitage of the Five Polish Brothers. The building was funded by Mikołaj Zebrzydowski in the years 1616-1617 and is dedicated to the first Polish martyrs—St. Benedict, John, Matthew, Isaac, and Christian, murdered in 1003, during an evangelization mission among pagans.
Then, for over half a kilometer, we continue along a gentle, narrow path. The track brings us directly to the Bugaj stronghold, clearly marked with a stylized board. According to the information posted on it, at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries, the Vistulians established their settlement here. The name “Bugaj” itself, which means a sacred place of the Slavs, is proof of this. Using the hill for defensive and settlement purposes in medieval times is also confirmed by archaeological excavations conducted here.
About 200 meters further, the green trail leads us to the very top of Żar mountain (527 m a.s.l.), one of the highest peaks of the Wieliczka Foothills. On the summit, there are modest remains of the castle in Barwałd Górny. The stronghold was built by the Duke of Oświęcim, Jan Scholastyk (from 1327 a Bohemian vassal) in the mid-14th century, for the purpose of defending the eastern border of his lands. At the beginning of the 15th century, the castle fell into the hands of the Komorowski family, who allegedly entered into conspiracies with the Teutonic Order hostile to Poland and with the King of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus. In retaliation, in 1477, King Casimir IV Jagiellon organized a punitive expedition, during which he razed the Barwałd stronghold to the ground. The castle was never rebuilt later, which would mean that the structure existed for only about 150 years.
By a combined black and green trail, we descend from the top of Żar for half a kilometer. When we reach the asphalt road, the colors separate again. The black trail runs to the right—through Łękawica and Jaroszowicka Mountain to Wadowice. The green trail, on the other hand, runs to the left—through the buildings of the village of Bugaj, Stronie, and Zakrzów.
Date of the trip: February 21, 2026
Trip statistics: 5.5 km; 230 meters elevation difference
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