Sanctuary of Our Lady the Jaworzyna Queen of the Tatras on Wiktorówki

Monuments

Wiktorówki 1, Małe Ciche, 34-531 Murzasichle Tourist region: Tatry i Podhale

tel. +48 182019850
tel. +48 534852191

The origins of the shrine date back to the second half of the 19th century. According to folk accounts, around 1861, the Virgin Mary appeared to Marysia Murzańska at this spot amid the Tatra forests. The future Pope Karol Wojtyła enjoyed coming here during his mountain excursions. Today, on Wiktorówki stands a beautiful wooden chapel reminiscent of the Zakopane style, and crowds of the faithful still come on foot.

The sanctuary of Our Lady of Jaworzyna, Queen of the Tatras, is located in the High Tatras, approximately 1,200 metres above sea level, within the Tatra National Park. Its story is linked to a vision during which a little shepherdess was instructed to admonish people to stop sinning and repent of past faults. To mark the spot where Marysia saw the 'beautiful Lady', Father Szymon Łukaszczyk nailed a picture of the Virgin Mary to a spruce tree. From then on, shepherds and forest workers began to come to Wiktorówki to pray at the apparition site. The paper picture quickly deteriorated and was replaced by a picture painted on glass. Within a short time, an unknown donor funded a bas-relief of the Virgin Mary. At the end of the 19th century, a local artist made another chapel where he placed a statue of Our Lady Queen of the Tatra Mountains. This statue has been preserved to this day and is located on the main altar of the present chapel. In 1957, by the decision of the Metropolitan Curia, a tourist pastoral centre was established on Rusinowa Glade.

The sanctuary on Wiktorówki was visited many times by Father Karol Wojtyła during his Tatra hikes. Highlanders, mountaineers, rescuers of the Tatra Volunteer Emergency Service, guards of the Tatra National Park, mountaineers, pilgrims and tourists from Poland and abroad relaxing in the Tatra Mountains make pilgrimages here. This is because there is a symbolic cemetery for the victims of the mountains.

The statue of the Virgin Mary was made of linden wood and painted with oil paints. Mary holds a sceptre in her right hand while her left hand is on her heart. On 2 August 1992, the statue was crowned under diocesan law by the Metropolitan of Kraków, Cardinal Franciszek Macharski, in the presence of 30,000 worshippers.