The Shrine of Our Lady of Gdów

Monuments

Ołtarz główny z cudownym, namalowanym obrazem Matki Bożej Gdowskiej w złotej ramie, obok złocone figury świętych, po dwie z każdej strony. Nad obrazem napis:

ul. Myślenicka 38, 32-420 Gdów Tourist region: Pogórza

tel. +48 122515262
tel. +48 790681230

According to one legend, Ladislaus the Short stopped in Gdów in 1417 on his way from Halicz. The king entered the church and prayed fervently before the image of Mary, asking for an heir to the throne. Prayers were answered, and sons were born – Casimir, founder of the Jagiellonian dynasty, and Ladislaus III Varna. The latter, according to legend, owes the saving of his life on two occasions to the miraculous image from the Gdów church.

Historical sources, including the Chronicles of Jan Długosz, state that the first wooden church in Gdów was built in 1075. In the 14th century, a new brick building was constructed on its site. However, a different location was initially planned – across the Raba River near a local quarry. As legend has it, the quarried stone intended for construction accumulated during the day was transported across the Raba River by powerful oxen at night and left at the consecrated site near the recently fire-ravaged wooden church.

The oldest surviving fragments of the church date from the early 15th century. These include a Gothic sacristy, part of the church walls, and a quadrangular tower dating from the 12th to 13th centuries, attached to the church after 1790. There is also an early Baroque marble font and a Baroque pulpit. Attention is drawn to the Rococo altarpieces made in the workshop of local master Piotr Kornecki, known as the ‘Wit Stwosz of Gdańsk’, a highly regarded woodcarver and painter of the Baroque era.

The late Baroque altarpiece houses a copy of the 18th-century image of Our Lady of Gdów that’s renowned for its graces. Historical records state that in 1342, the then-parish priest inserted a Gothic altar into the church he had built and placed a picture of the Virgin Mary painted on a board in it. Then Ladislaus the Short himself was to pray before it. The painting was destroyed during the great church fire of 1705. A few years later, the medieval image of Mary was recreated from memory and made life-size. The image of Our Lady of Gdów is famous for its graces and is an object of veneration. Since 2004, the shrine has had the status of a Marian sanctuary.