Fish Gate (Gate of the Third Millennium)

A steel fish 36 m long and 9 m wide stands on a grassy hill above Lake Lednica. This is the Gate of the Third Millennium, built in 1997 on the initiative of the Dominican Father Jan Góra – and walking beneath it is the climax of every Lednica 2000 Youth Meeting. Its shape refers to the Greek ichthys, one of the oldest symbols of Christ.

The gate a pope flew through

The gate was put up for the first meeting, on the eve of John Paul II's pilgrimage to Gniezno in 1997. According to reports, the pope was flying by helicopter from Gorzów to Gniezno, stopped above the Lednica Fields, blessed the young people, then descended and was the first to pass through the gate – symbolically leading them into the third millennium. He never attended a meeting on the ground.

In 2016 the Primate of Poland, Archbishop Wojciech Polak, declared it a Gate of Mercy for the Jubilee Year of Mercy. A few months earlier, in December 2015, Father Góra's coffin had been carried through the gate before his burial on the fields beside the rock of St John Paul II.

How the crossing works

The gate is approached along the Third Millennium Way, a cobbled processional path lined with boulders marking the Stations of the Cross. At the June meeting, after a night service with an act of choosing Christ and adoration, participants pass beneath the fish one by one; in peak years up to 100,000 people have come. In September, during Lednica for Motorcyclists, bikes ride through the gate, and at Lednica for Families participants camp in tents right next to it. The organisers like to say that the gate is the same for every generation.

What else is nearby

• The bell tower with the 1.2-tonne “Jesus Christ” bell, consecrated in 2000, in a frame with a globe-shaped cage.
• The John Paul II boulder from 2006, weighing about 25 tonnes.
• Father Jan Góra's grave and the John Paul II House with a chapel and a museum of papal mementoes.

Tripto tip

Entry is free and the gate can be visited all year round. The best approach is up the processional path from below – that is when the outline of the fish against the sky is most striking. A relaxed visit to the gate and bell tower takes 30–45 minutes; the hill slopes and there is little shade in summer. Do not climb the structure. On the days of large meetings the organisers' rules apply, so check the calendar at spotkanielednica2000.pl before you go.