The chapel was built in 1979 on the 900th anniversary of the martyr death of St. Stanislaus, and also to commemorate Pope John Paul II’s first pilgrimage to Poland. Therefore, Pope John II received the keys to its gates. The chapel was erected on the site of the former shrine that was destroyed several times at the orders of the communist authorities of People’s Republic of Poland because of its patriotic character. It used to commemorate the Home Army partisan fights in Gorce and the Katyń Massacre. This place also witnessed in 1981 the birth of a new tradition that continues until now of masses for the fatherland conducted in the mountaineer dialect by the Pope’s friend, Rev. Prof. Józef Tischner (1931-2000), philosopher and Chaplain of the Podhale Residents’ Association.