Sanctuary of St Anne in Aleksandrówka

On the traditional pilgrim route to Jasna Góra, about 35 km east of Częstochowa, a late Gothic wooden figure of St Anne with the Virgin and Child has been venerated for more than five hundred years. Around it grew a Baroque monastery complex where enclosed Dominican nuns have lived since 1869. Officially the sanctuary stands in the village of Aleksandrówka in the municipality of Przyrów, which until 1977 was called Święta Anna (Saint Anne) after its patron.

History: from a forest cross to a monastery

The cult began at the end of the 15th century, when several miraculous events were said to have happened in the surrounding forests. In 1499, on the orders of the parish priest of Przyrów, a crucifix was set up here. In the early 16th century Paweł of Szczekociny, governor of Olsztyn, built a wooden chapel and placed the figure of St Anne in it, and in 1554 Anna Krokierowa, a burgher's wife from Kraków, built a new one. In 1609 Joachim Ocieski, castellan of Sącz, and Prince Janusz Ostrogski founded a church and a friary for the Bernardines (Observant Franciscans). As the land belonged to the Crown, King Sigismund III had to give consent – the nuns still keep the document in their archive.

The brick church was built in 1609–1617 and consecrated on 27 August 1617 by Bishop Tomasz Oborski. It is a single-nave church on a cross plan, with a semicircular apse, a dome over the centre of the nave and one tower; the friary was completed in 1668. In the second half of the 18th century a black-and-white floor was laid (1774), the roof was covered in copper, and cloisters with Stations of the Cross were built along the walls of the square (1777). In 1782–1783 the interior was painted with Old Testament scenes.

Dissolution and the Dominican nuns

The Bernardines supported the January Uprising against Russian rule, so in November 1864 the Russian authorities dissolved the friary and tsarist troops were stationed in the buildings. In 1869 Dominican nuns arrived from a closed convent in Piotrków Trybunalski – forbidden to accept new members, which was meant to let the community die out. The ban was lifted only in the early 20th century. In 1881 a fire destroyed part of the church and convent, but both world wars spared the sanctuary.

What to see

• The figure of St Anne with the Virgin and Child in a separate chapel beside the church.
• The "Dance of Death" from the early 18th century – one of the most faithful copies of the painting in the Bernardine church in Kraków.
• The high altar in Régence style, a transition between Baroque and Rococo.
• The pilgrims' cloisters around the square in front of the church.

Tripto tip

The main feast is on 26 July, St Anne's Day: the nuns say Masses are celebrated from the morning, with a high Mass and Eucharistic procession at 11:30. On an ordinary day 30–45 minutes is enough for the church and cloisters; the convent itself is enclosed, so visitors see the church and the square. The sanctuary is easy to combine with a trip around the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, for example to Złoty Potok.