Sanctuary of Our Lady of Skarżyce

In Skarżyce, a separate village until 1977 and now part of Zawiercie, stands a church you could not mistake for any other in the Jura. Three white chapel rotundas, symbolising the Holy Trinity, adjoin a 12th-century stone tower. The Church of the Holy Trinity and St Florian has been the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Skarżyce since 1999.

History: a church for Catholics on a religious frontier

The church's story is tied to neighbouring Kromołów. After castellan Seweryn Boner died in 1549, his widow Jadwiga became a Calvinist, and the Kromołów church served as a Calvinist meeting house from 1552 to 1597. Local Catholics were left without a church. The owner of Skarżyce, Wojciech Giebułtowski, then decided to build them one dedicated to the Holy Trinity. The foundation is also attributed to Mikołaj Brzeski in 1583 – the Brzeski family owned the village in the 16th century.

The builders reused a defensive tower that had stood here since the 12th century, together with a chapel added to it later. In 1610 three chapels were added on the south side, and the parish was established in 1616. Skarżyce itself is first recorded in 1327.

What to see

• The stone defensive tower of the 12th century – the oldest part of the complex.
• Three chapel rotundas – above the middle and largest one, which houses the chancel and main altar, rises a turret with an ornate cupola.
• The Classicist wooden high altar with a painting of the Holy Trinity.
• The 17th-century painting of the Virgin and Child in the left side altar – the image at the heart of the sanctuary, established on 15 August 1999 by Archbishop Stanisław Nowak of Częstochowa.
• Historic furnishings also include a monstrance and 17th- and 18th-century chasubles.

Tripto tips

• The church and a walk around the rotundas take 20–30 minutes. The interior is easiest to see before or after services.
• The chapels were added on the south side – walk all the way round to see how the three rotundas join the medieval tower.
• Near Skarżyce is Okiennik Wielki – a limestone outcrop with a 5-metre rock window and a cave inhabited by Neanderthals more than 50,000 years ago. The two are easy to combine on a Jura day trip.