Holy Cross Church in Chabówka

Right beside the Zakopane road, on the western slope of Piątkowa Góra on the border of Chabówka and Rdzawka, stands the wooden Holy Cross Church "na Obidowej". Built in 1757, surrounded by arcades and old lime trees, it has been a stop on the way to the Tatras for generations – once for pilgrims and travellers, today for drivers pulling into the car park next to it.

History: from chapel to roadside church

The church was built in 1757 on the site of an earlier chapel, funded by Jan Wielopolski, Voivode of Sandomierz. It stood on the old highway from Kraków "to the Tatras and Pieniny", used before the railway reached Zakopane. In 1857 the traveller Maria Steczkowska described a lonely, blackened little church shaded by lime trees, where services were held only twice a year – on the feasts of the Finding and the Exaltation of the Cross. In 1928 the Kraków Automobile Club took the church under its care, and since 1965 it has been looked after by the Marian Fathers of Rdzawka.

On 2 October 1994 the building was set on fire by unknown arsonists. It survived by luck: a specialist fire brigade unit from Kraków happened to be driving back along the Zakopane road. One wall burned, together with a historic Crucifixion sculpture, and the late-Baroque furnishings were partly reconstructed.

What to see

The church is a log structure, and the chancel and part of the nave are surrounded by soboty – low arcades on posts where pilgrims arriving on Saturday for the Sunday feast used to shelter. Walls and ceilings are covered with paintings from 1901 – figures, ornaments and painted architecture – renewed in 1975 and reconstructed after the fire. On the ceiling a fiery cross appears among clouds, a nod to the legend of a merchant attacked by robbers who cried out "Holy Cross, save me".

Did you know?

In another version of the legend the robbers were turned to stone, and the "proof" is said to be stone fragments with human figures set in the fence around the church. About 200 metres from the church, across the Zakopane road, flows the Pocieszna Woda spring, once believed to cure eye and leg ailments; since 1997 it has been a natural monument. On the stretch of road near Rdzawka drivers often plunge into sudden thick fog – perhaps the origin of the tale of the mist that hid the merchant from his attackers.

Tripto tips

According to the church's custodians, it can be seen from outside and from the vestibule. Masses are held on Sundays and holy days at 8:00, 9:00 and 10:00, and the parish feasts fall in May (Finding of the Cross) and September (Exaltation of the Cross). From the slopes of Piątkowa Góra you can see the surrounding ranges and, in good weather, the Tatras and Babia Góra. On foot, a marked trail from Rabka-Zdrój gets you here in about 1.5 hours.