Chapel on the Water in Ojców

The wooden Chapel on the Water ("Na Wodzie"), dedicated to St Joseph the Worker, straddles the Prądnik stream on concrete supports set into both banks, beneath white limestone crags known as the Prałatki. It is one of the most photographed buildings in Ojców National Park and a reminder of the days when Ojców was a fashionable spa. For many visitors, though, the real draw is the story of why the chapel "doesn't touch the ground".

History: from bathhouse to chapel

The chapel was created in 1901 on the site of the former "Goplana" spa baths. The conversion was initiated by Dr Stanisław Niedzielski, then director of the Ojców hydrotherapy centre. According to local tradition, Tsar Nicholas II – this part of Poland was then under Russian rule – had banned the construction of religious buildings on Ojców land, so the chapel was built over the water to avoid technically standing on the ground. Ojców National Park presents this as local lore, so treat it as a legend rather than documented fact.

The Swiss-Ojców style

The building is an example of wooden holiday architecture that blended local motifs with decoration borrowed from Alpine resorts – the so-called Swiss-Ojców style. The chapel has a symmetrical cross-shaped plan, 11 m long and about 5 m wide. The outer walls follow the local custom: a lattice band at the top, boards overlapping like roof tiles in the middle, and at the bottom vertical boards set alternately deeper and shallower. The whole is crowned by an openwork bell turret, thoroughly restored in 1996.

What to see inside

• Three altars shaped like the gables of peasant cottages, echoing the Zakopane style that was fashionable at the time.
• At the top of the main altar a sun, and below it figures of five saints carved by a peasant named Kowalski from nearby Biały Kościół.
• Two eagles above three serpents on either side of the altar – Poland and the three powers that had partitioned it, a pointed comment on the era.
• A painting of Our Lady of Help, painted in 1901 by one of the spa's female guests.
• A tabernacle, wooden candlestick and grille from 1972–1973, and a 1983 forward-facing altar decorated with stylised Ojców flowers.

Interesting facts

In front of the chapel lies a meadow known as Goplana Glade, its name recalling the old baths, and nearby flows St John's Spring. The chapel is still in use: Masses, baptisms and weddings take place here, and on Saturdays it is often booked for ceremonies.

Tripto tip

Fifteen to twenty minutes is enough to see the chapel; entry is free, but no fixed opening hours are published. When the doors are closed you can usually look inside through the grille. The best view of the supports standing in the stream is from the side, from the meadow. Leave your car in a designated car park in Ojców – parking elsewhere in the national park is not allowed – and combine the visit with Ojców Castle ruins, the Kraków Gate rock, Łokietek's Cave and the Hercules' Club rock on the way to Pieskowa Skała Castle.