Sanctuary of Our Lady of Sorrows in Kałków-Godów

Amid the fields of the Świętokrzyskie region stands a building that looks like a medieval castle, 33 metres high. This is the Golgotha, the heart of the sanctuary in Kałków-Godów and a kind of national pantheon: inside are chapels commemorating the victims of 20th-century wars, crimes and repression. The whole sanctuary was built from scratch within a few decades, driven by one priest's determination.

History: from a chapel in a shed

In 1967 a young curate, Father Czesław Wala (1936–2020), arrived at the parish in Krynki near Starachowice. Every week he walked or cycled 9 km to Kałków to teach children religion. The first chapel was set up in a roadside shed, and despite harassment by the communist secret police the priest settled in Kałków and began to build.

The Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, Queen of Poland, was built in 1983–1984 to a design by Roman Wdowicz of Kielce. The Golgotha followed in 1986–1991, the John Paul II House in 1988–1991, and the Lourdes grotto was blessed in 1999. A hospice, a village for people with disabilities and retreat houses looking towards the Holy Cross mountain were added too. In 2009 Father Wala received the "Guardian of National Remembrance" award from the Institute of National Remembrance.

What to see

• The Golgotha – the building serves as the 12th Station of the Cross. Inside are 38 chapel-oratories, each with its own patron and memorabilia, including the Katyn Chapel, the Chapel of the Lwów Eaglets, the Volhynia Chapel, and oratories of St Maximilian Kolbe, the Warsaw Insurgents, victims of the death camps, the Radom workers' protest of June 1976 and Father Jerzy Popiełuszko.
• The church – on two levels, decorated in baroque style, with a copy of the Licheń image of Our Lady. The lower church has a chapel dedicated to Home Army soldiers.
• Way of the Cross – 14 stations on a man-made embankment, with large figures.
• Lourdes grotto – a faithful copy of the grotto in Lourdes, built of huge boulders.
• Memorial oaks – planted in 2010, among others for President Lech Kaczyński and General Władysław Kulesza, murdered at Katyn.

Tripto tip

The grounds are open and can be explored on your own; allow 1–2 hours, as there are many chapels in the Golgotha. This is a place of prayer, so keep quiet in the chapels. Kałków lies in the Pawłów municipality, about 12 km from Nowa Słupia – easy to combine with Łysa Góra and the Holy Cross monastery.