In our trip to Poland we have been to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, situated between two river valleys (Skawa and Raba) and two mountains (¯ar and Lochoroñska), where are situated also the ruins of two medieval castles, in a forest zone. There is a Mannerist pilgrimage park, founded by the family of Zebrzydowski, and projected by the italian Jesuit Gian Maria Bernardoni, with buildings disposed in the natural landscape. There you can find Italian Renaissance and French Baroque park design with Mannerist freedom and irregularity and a lot of beautiful views and panoramas. Around the ellipse layout of the park are the main buildings and roads that symbolize the buildings and streets of the Passion in Jerusalem, that were used by pilgrims. In the forest or at the end of long avenues are 42 big decorated chapels with a high degree of originality of forms, compositions, details and symbolic purposes: of the Hearth of the Virgin Mary (hearth-shaped plan), House of Caiphas (ellipse), House of Annas (triangle), House of Our Lady (triangle linked with semi-circles), House of Pilate (Greek cross), Holy Sepulchre (rectangle with semi-circular apses), of the Ascension (octagon containing a square), of the Last Supper (elongated rectangle), East Gate of Jerusalem (square with corner pilasters), Palace of Herod… Various techniques, colours and materials were used: unrendered stone and brick, dressed stone and rendered and plastered brick; the roofs are made of copper or zinc sheets or ceramic tiles; the way in which details are applied derives from The Netherlands. Dados and entablatures are used for horizontal divisions and half-columns or pilasters for vertical divisions. Elements of Tuscan, Ionic and Composite orders are used with rusticated faces and surrounds to doors and circular or oval windows; there are also strapwork ornaments, blind arches, corn or acorn pendants, domes with stucco decorations and pulpits in stone and brick on the facades. The interiors have original furniture, decorations and blocks with the inscription "Terra Santa", that contain soil from Jerusalem. Between them there are two large churches. The first is the Baroque church of the Grave of the Virgin, constructed on two levels (one representing the Grave and the other the Ascension), that is in broken stone blocks and has a saddleback roof with a central spire, a strong podium and a rectangular plan with an apse and and entrance porch; inside there is a beautiful sarcophagus made by Paulus Bandarth. The church of the Crucifixion has an elongated rectangular plan with a bipartite interior with compound vaulting and a saddleback roof with a spire. The tripartite facade has three entrances and four projections; double Tuscan pilasters support an entablature decorated with symbolic subjects; inside there are beautiful paintings by Franciszek Lekszycki. In the park, along the avenues, are also many detached resdentia houses: some of them are wooden single-storeyed buildings, with an attic, verandahs and saddleback roofs in many materials. The church of Our Lady of the Angels and the Bernardine Monastery are situated on a mountain and are Baroque masterpieces. The church has a high two-storeyed front with two towers, with Baroque roofs, separeted by a pediment. The interior has an unaisled nave with an elongated choir, three separate chapels with domed roofs, original furniture, altars, choir stalls, statues and a nice pulpit. The monastery has two internal cloisters and a three-storey facade with five projections and lunettes.

I liked very much the site because of the quality and variety of the architecture. It's worth to be visited if you are in the Little Poland (if you want to visit all the 42 chapel you must walk for 7 km) and justifies the inscription.

Photo: Kalwaria Zebrzydowska - Church of Our Lady of the Angels