St Anne's Chapel in Busko-Zdrój

The little neo-Gothic church on the highest point of the Spa Park in Busko-Zdrój was built practically without permission. According to local history it went up in three weeks, while a tsarist official was away, and its builder paid for it with 14 days in jail. Today St Anne's Spa Chapel is one of the symbols of the spa town and a favourite wedding venue for local couples.

History: a chapel built in defiance

In the 1880s the spa was growing fast and most patients stayed in villas around the park. The church in the town centre was about 1.5 km away – too far for many of the sick. Busko was then in the part of Poland ruled by Russia, and the authorities refused to allow a new Catholic church. The spa management, led by Dr Aleksander Dobrzański, prepared the site, and the work was run by Karol Pawłowski, a master locksmith employed at the spa. By the time the tsarist administrator returned from St Petersburg the chapel already had a roof; permission eventually came, but Pawłowski was locked up.

Sources differ on the construction date: the town's tourism site gives 1884, other sources 1888. They agree that the chapel was opened in 1888 and at first held services only in the summer season. The porch and sacristy were added around 1907. From 1983 to 1993 the chapel served as the seat of the new parish of St Brother Albert, then returned to its role as the spa chapel.

What to see

• The building with three turrets – two small ones and a taller bell turret on the zinc-clad roof.
• The high altar with a painting of St Anne, patron of the chapel and the whole spa; the altar and confessional were made by the sculptor Łabęcki from Piotrkowice.
• Two figures by the altar carved from a lime tree felled in the Spa Park.
• The flat ceiling divided into panels showing the mysteries of the Rosary.
• Fragments of a late Gothic triptych from the early 16th century, moved here in 1984 from the church in Chotelek Zielony.

Tripto tip

This is a working chapel, so do not plan it like a museum – you are most likely to see the interior just before or after a service, and at weekends it is often booked for weddings. A thorough restoration in 2010–2012 gave the interior fresh plaster and a renovated altar. Allow 15–20 minutes, but combine the visit with a walk through the Spa Park past the Marconi Sanatorium and the wooden church of St Leonard. Wiślica, with its Romanesque-Gothic collegiate church, is a dozen or so kilometres from Busko.