Forest Sanctuary of Our Lady Queen of the Springs – Healing of the Sick Krynica-Zdrój - Obiekt

Forest Sanctuary of Our Lady Queen of the Springs – Healing of the Sick Krynica-Zdrój

Monuments

Park Zdrojowy, 33-380 Krynica-Zdrój Tourist region: Beskid Sądecki i Niski

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The forest sanctuary with the miraculous grace-famous statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary Queen of Krynica's Spas was built under the peak of Mt Parkowa according to a design by Artur Grottger. It is associated with a legend of love between a Muszyna knight and a local shepherdess, and the devil’s desire to crush the life-giving spring with a heavy boulder known as the Devil's Stone from the slope of Jaworzyna Krynicka.

A representative of Romanticism, the painter Artur Grottger, enchanted by the forest and the legend of the miraculous spring, decided to erect a statue of Our Lady of Grace above the forest spring at the foot of the mountain. The statue of the Madonna, based on a beautiful drawing by the artist, was erected in a forest temple in 1864 thanks to the efforts of Countess Severina Badenia, protector of the sick and the poor (interestingly, a twin statue was erected on St Mary's Square in Lviv). In 1884, the rock under the statue began to shift, and was reinforced with a high wall. Later, the sanctuary was enclosed by an iron railing. In 1943, a violent wind storm knocked down the giant trees growing around the statue, fortunately without damaging the Madonna. In 1950, the sanctuary was given a new foundation and a fence made of Tatra granite.

To this day, the miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary – the patron saint of Krynica – is frequently visited by tourists and hikers to the top of Mt Parkowa. The sanctuary also attracts worshippers seeking healing, as evidenced by the many votive offerings. Among those who made pilgrimages to the Queen of Krynica's spas were Blessed Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński and Saint John Paul II while he was Bishop of Kraków.

Finally, let us tell the beautiful legend of the Muszyna knight, the Krynica shepherdess and the Devil's Stone. Because the shepherdess was poor, the knight's father refused to agree to their marriage and sent his son to war with the Tartars to make him forget the poor girl. The knight did not return for a long time, so the distraught shepherdess vowed to dedicate her life to the Mother of God and settled in a hermit's forest cottage in a dense Carpathian forest where there flowed a clear spring that centuries later was named the Main Spring. Eventually, the knight returned from his wartime wandering, but on his way to his beloved he was severely injured, either by a wild animal or by thieves. The shepherdess over the dying knight begged for rescue from the Blessed Mother, to whom she had vowed her life – Mary, in blue brightness, descended from the heavens indicating a gushing spring of water nearby, in which the shepherdess washed the knight's wounds saving him from death. On learning of his son's miraculous rescue, the knight's father agreed to the marriage and the young couple lived happily ever after. Healing water continued to be drawn from the spring, giving no peace to the powers of hell. The devil decided to destroy the miraculous spring – he picked up a massive stone from the Tatra Mountains and carried it to drop it on the spring. He didn't make it – when he was already below the top of Jaworzyna Krynicka, a hen crowed and the devil dropped a stone that lies there to this day. The locals tell these beautiful legends and pay homage to the Blessed Virgin, Queen of the Krynica Spas – Healing the Sick.