Carmelite Monastery and Museum in Czerna

Until 1805, ordinary worshippers were not allowed into this monastery: Czerna was a hermitage of the Discalced Carmelites, hidden in the forest and enclosed by a wall more than four kilometres long. Today the complex in the Eliaszówka Valley, about 30 km from Kraków, welcomes pilgrims and visitors, and its Pilgrim House contains the multimedia Carmelite Museum and a Missionary Museum. A visit combines a Baroque church, ruined hermitages and a forest walk to the Devil's Bridge.

History

The monastery was founded in 1629 by Agnieszka Firlejowa née Tęczyńska, wife of the governor of Kraków province; she was buried beneath the floor by the church entrance. The Church of St Elijah was built in 1631–1640 and consecrated in 1644. Between 1640 and 1672 an area of about 80 hectares was surrounded by an enclosure wall more than 4 km long and 2.5 m high – its ruins survive today. Twelve hermit cottages were built in the forest; traces remain of four, and one, St Agnes's hermitage, was rebuilt in 1966–1969. Czerna is now a double shrine, dedicated to Our Lady of the Scapular and to St Raphael Kalinowski, whose remains lie in a side chapel.

What to see

• The Church of St Elijah – its altars, floor, candlesticks and portal are made of black Dębnik marble; the quarry at Dębnik belonged to the monastery at the time. Above the entrance is a Latin motto praising blessed solitude, and the high altar holds a painting of St Elijah by Tomasz Dolabella from 1640.
• The courtyard well – cut into solid rock in 1644–1651, it is 21.5 m deep and 2 m wide, covered by a shingled dome on eight columns.
• The monastery cemetery, with the tomb of General Aleksander Błędowski, who fought in the 1830–31 November Uprising against Russia. The inscription says "Muscovite bullets" missed him but cholera cut his life short – in 1836 the authorities ordered part of it chiselled off as an insult to the Russian army.
• The Devil's Bridge – the ruins of the Hermits' Bridge over the Eliaszówka stream, built in 1671–1691 and surrounded by legends.
• The Stations of the Cross from 1986–1990 with sculptures by Alfred Kotowski, the grotto of the prophet Elijah with its spring, and a viewpoint above the open-air altar.
• The Carmelite Museum and Missionary Museum in the Pilgrim House, built in 2010–2016 together with a restaurant and a bookshop.

Interesting facts

• The monastery cellar hosts a breeding colony of the lesser horseshoe bat, a rare species – the reason a Natura 2000 site called "Czerna" was created.
• Along the forest paths you can spot hollows left by filled-in shafts where calamine ore was mined around 1900.
• The monastery is surrounded by the Eliaszówka Valley nature reserve, with Carpathian beech forest.

Tripto tip

Allow 2–3 hours for the church, cemetery, the walk to the Devil's Bridge and the museum, and wear comfortable shoes – the paths run through the forest and can be muddy after rain. The monastery gate is open daily 8:00–12:00 and 14:00–18:00. Avoid touring the church during Mass – on Sundays services take place roughly every two hours from morning until 17:00. Check museum opening hours and prices on the Pilgrim House website (dompielgrzyma.net) before you go. Czerna makes a good, quiet half-day trip from Kraków.