Discalced Carmelite Monastery in Czerna

Above the church portal in Czerna is a Latin inscription praising blessed solitude, and it sums up the place well. For almost two centuries the Discalced Carmelite monastery in the Eliaszówka Valley was a hermitage closed to lay people. Today it is a double sanctuary of Our Lady of the Scapular and St Raphael Kalinowski, surrounded by a forest nature reserve and the ruins of an old enclosure wall.

History: Firlejowa's hermitage

Construction began in 1629, funded by Agnieszka Firlejowa née Tęczyńska, widow of the governor of Kraków. The Church of St Elijah was built in 1631–1640 and consecrated in 1644; the founder lies beneath the floor by the entrance. In 1640–1672 the 80-hectare grounds were surrounded by an enclosure wall more than 4 km long and 2.5 m high, marking the boundary of papal enclosure. Twelve hermit cells were built on the slopes. Only after the church was opened to the public did Czerna become a pilgrimage site.

What to see

• St Elijah's Church – early Baroque, on a Latin-cross plan, decorated with black Dębnik marble; the Dębnik quarry belonged to the monastery at the time. The altars, floor, candlesticks and portal are all made of it.
• The painting of St Elijah on the high altar, by Tommaso Dolabella, from 1640, and a 17th-century image of Our Lady of the Scapular (208 × 107 cm), crowned in 1988.
• The chapel of St Raphael Kalinowski with his relics, and the chapel of St John of the Cross.
• The well, cut into solid rock in 1644–1651 – it is 21.5 m deep and covered by a shingled dome on eight columns.
• The Devil's Bridge (1671–1691) over the Eliaszówka stream, ruins of the enclosure wall and St Agnes's hermitage, rebuilt in 1966–1969.
• The monastery cemetery with the tomb of General Aleksander Błędowski by Ferdinand Kuhn.

Interesting facts

The monastery cellar houses a breeding colony of lesser horseshoe bats – the Natura 2000 site "Czerna" was created to protect them. Along the forest paths you can see hollows left by filled-in shafts where calamine ore was mined around 1900. The monastery has recently been restored; according to dzieje.pl, the culture ministry provided almost PLN 1.8 million for conservation in 2022–2023.

Tripto tip

An hour is enough for the church, the courtyard with the well and the cemetery, but add a walk to the Devil's Bridge in the Eliaszówka Valley reserve. There is a viewpoint above the field altar on the slope in front of the church. Next to the monastery, the Pilgrims' House has a restaurant, a bookshop and a multimedia Carmelite Museum. This is a working monastery – please keep quiet during services.