Shrine of Our Lady of Mirów in Pińczów

Pińczów has two faces: its Renaissance market square and Mirów – once a separate little town founded in 1592 by Zygmunt Myszkowski. In Mirów stands the Church of the Visitation with its Franciscan friary, home to the miraculous image of Our Lady of Mirów, painted around 1600, probably in the Kraków workshop of Tommaso Dolabella, court painter to the Vasa kings. It is a shrine that draws pilgrims from Poland and abroad.

History: a Myszkowski foundation

The church was founded by Piotr Myszkowski, Bishop of Kraków – the diocese of Kielce gives the year as 1577, the regional tourism portal as 1578 and other accounts as 1587. It was completed in 1619 by Ferdynand Myszkowski, son of Zygmunt Gonzaga Myszkowski. In October 1683 Stanisław Kazimierz Myszkowski brought in the Reformed Franciscans, who founded a friary and took charge of the church. According to the diocese, the friars, true to their rule of poverty, cut the towers down to roof level and removed some of the façade decoration and the founders' coats of arms.

The friary was built in 1686–1706 around a square cloister garth. Until 1852 the friars supported themselves partly by weaving cloth for their habits. After the January Uprising against Russian rule, the tsarist authorities declared the friary one that would be closed after the death of its last member; from 1908 a hospital occupied its rooms. The last Reformed friar died in 1910, and the Franciscans returned in 1928. The church only became a parish church in 1990.

The image of Our Lady of Mirów

The panel painting follows the model of the Salus Populi Romani icon in Rome's Santa Maria Maggiore: a standing Virgin holds the Child on her left arm, with Saints Stanislaus and Adalbert below. It was commissioned around 1600 by Zygmunt Gonzaga Myszkowski. It first hung in the chapel of the Myszkowski castle and was moved to the church in 1683. In 1992 the image was crowned by the Apostolic Nuncio, Józef Kowalczyk.

What to see

• The image of Our Lady of Mirów on the left side of the transept.
• Ten Baroque altars from the mid-18th century and a late-17th-century crucifix on the high altar.
• Domed chapels – including that of St John of Nepomuk – and many Jastrzębiec coats of arms of the founders.
• The friars' choir with oak stalls behind the chancel, where the Franciscans pray every day.
• The Katyń Chapel, blessed by Monsignor Zdzisław Peszkowski.
• The pilgrims' cloister – an arcaded courtyard with gates in front of the church.

Tripto tip

According to the Świętokrzyskie Travel portal, the church is open to visitors daily until 17:30 and admission is free. Address: ul. Klasztorna 29, 28-400 Pińczów, tel. +48 41 357 20 84. Allow 30–45 minutes for the church and the cloister. Visit outside Mass and dress appropriately; afterwards walk up St Anne's Hill for a view over Mirów, the church and the Nida valley.