Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Zielonki
ul. ks. Michalika 1, 32-087 Zielonki
Tourist region: Kraków i okolice
fax. +48 122850082
tel. +48 122850082
The brick late Gothic church with Renaissance elements was built in the years 1524–1538 on the site of an earlier church from the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries. First the sacristy was built in 1524, in 1533 the presbytery, and the nave in 1538. It is an oriented, single-nave temple strengthened with buttresses with a chancel narrower than the nave and rib vaults. During the renovation of the church in 1889, a floor with the sacristy and a flat wooden ceiling in the nave were added. In 1947, the Gothic side entrance was demolished, and in 1948 a square-shaped chapel of Our Lady of Częstochowa, later Our Lady of Victory, with a broken roof and a baroque little bell was built. It was designed by Stefan Świszczowski. An 18th-century painting of the Madonna wearing a dress made of beads and adorned with military orders was installed in it. The faithful hang votive offerings around it. The painting comes from the war route of the Second Battery of the 1st Field Artillery Regiment of the 1st Independent Rifle Brigade, stationed in Scotland in 1941. In 1947 the image was transported to St. Mary's Basilica in Krakow, and in 1949 to the chapel in Zielonki. In 1966 a three-storey modernistic entrance was added to the church. Designed by Antoni Mazur, the entrance contains a porch and a choir together with an organ on the upper floors. An openwork metal bell tower in the shape of a tripod with a cross and bells rises above it. In the interior there are preserved fragments of polychromes from the 16th century and more recent 18th century works by Andrzej Radwański. Statues of Antoni Frąckiewicz are in the Baroque main altar. The church is surrounded by rosary chapels from the 20th century. There is a wooden chapel nearby from the 19th century with a folk sculpture of the Madonna and a 'Na Rozdziałowskim' stone statue from 1636, topped with a lantern with the Pietà. In 1998 a statue of John Paul II was unveiled.