Church of St John the Baptist, Dobczyce

In the central arch of the bell tower beside St John the Baptist's Church hangs the bell "Jan", cast in 1504 in the reign of King Alexander Jagiellon – the only Dobczyce bell to survive the Second World War. Around its shoulder runs a German inscription in which the bell-founder declares himself "of good cheer", since God will grant him salvation. The Neoclassical church itself, built in 1828–1834, stands in the Old Town among old trees, inside the medieval walls and a few steps from the castle ruins.

History: three churches on one hill

The first church may have stood on the hill as early as the 13th century; the chronicler Jan Długosz mentions a church of St John the Baptist here. In the late 16th century the royal governor Sebastian Lubomirski funded a stone church, which was closed in 1790 because of its poor condition. The present church was begun in 1828 by the owner of Dobczyce, Jan Turnau, and completed by his son Jakub. Stone from the dismantled Dobczyce castle was used in its construction. It was consecrated in 1854.

In the 19th century the town moved down into the Raba valley, far from the hill. For years weekday Masses were said in a chapel by the market square, and people climbed to the Old Town church on Sundays and holy days. In 1947–1949 the Church of Our Lady Help of Christians was built by the market square and took over as the parish's main church.

What to see

• The epitaph of Sebastian Lubomirski's child from 1594 in the chancel – a Renaissance white marble slab with a relief of a naked child resting on a skull, the Lubomirski coat of arms and a Latin inscription.
• Altars and pulpit – five wooden altars; the high altar, two side altars from 1851 and the pulpit are the work of Kajetan Domasiewicz from Nowy Sącz.
• 18th-century Stations of the Passion, a valuable organ case and the cross on the tower.
• The three-arched bell tower of the 19th century – in the middle the Gothic bell "Jan", 105 cm in diameter, flanked by two bells cast in 1975 by the Felczyński brothers in Przemyśl and dedicated to Our Lady of Częstochowa and St Casimir.

Interesting facts

From the "Jeleniec" cemetery, the Stone Steps lead up to the Old Town. At the top stand statues of the Immaculate Virgin and St John of Nepomuk that once adorned the bridge over the Raba – during the war the Germans threw them into the river, they were later recovered from the water and hidden, and in 1970 members of the PTTK tourist society set them up in their present spot. Nearby grows a protected tree, the "Marysieńka" lime, commemorating John III Sobieski's victory at Vienna in 1683; a grotto with a small statue of the Virgin has been made in its trunk.

Practical information

Address: Stare Miasto 3, 32-410 Dobczyce. The church belongs to the parish of Our Lady Help of Christians. The interior is easiest to see during a service; to visit at another time, contact the parish office (tel. +48 12 271 10 44). The bell tower, the lime tree and the churchyard can be seen at any time. Entry is free. The surroundings take 15–20 minutes, and a full walk round the hill with the open-air museum and castle ruins takes 1.5–2 hours.

Tripto tip

Climb the hill by the Stone Steps from the "Jeleniec" cemetery – you will pass the bridge statues and the "Marysieńka" lime and see the bell tower from the front. The ground around the church slopes and the paths are uneven. Dobczyce lies about 30 km south-east of Kraków. Nearby: the castle ruins with the PTTK Regional Museum, the open-air museum, sections of the town walls, the Church of Our Lady Help of Christians with its Gothic Pietà, and the dam on Lake Dobczyce.