Bazylika Nawiedzenia Najświętszej Maryi Panny
Churches of Kraków
Minor basilica (Roman Catholic), Stare Miasto district. Date according to Wikidata: 1397. Architect: Giovanni Battista Trevano, Franciszek Mączyński. The title of minor basilica is granted to churches by the Pope. A place of pilgrimage (shrine). A listed monument (heritage register).
History
The Basilica of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known as the Church on the Sand (Na Piasku), belongs to the Carmelites and stands at Karmelicka Street 19. According to legend, construction was begun as early as the 11th century by Władysław I Herman. Actual work began in 1395 thanks to a foundation by St Hedwig of Anjou (Jadwiga) and Władysław II Jagiełło, and two years later the church was given to the Calced Carmelites, who had come from Prague. In 1587, during the siege of Kraków by Emperor Maximilian Habsburg, the Gothic building was badly damaged. It was rebuilt with money from Anna Jagiellon. Later it was destroyed by the Swedes, and the church owes its present form to the rebuilding in the second half of the 17th century; it was consecrated on 23 April 1679 by Bishop Mikołaj Oborski. During the Bar Confederation the Russians occupied it and fired on Kraków from here, and the damaged walls were repaired with the support of Bishop Kajetan Sołtyk. The church has held the title of minor basilica since 1997.
The facade of the three-aisled basilica is modelled on the Roman church of Il Gesù. The high altar, depicting the Visitation of St Elizabeth, is one of the largest Baroque woodcarvings in Kraków. The church also has magnificent choir stalls from the mid-17th and 18th centuries, and the vaults of the monastery cloisters are covered with mid-18th-century paintings showing the history of the church and of the image of Our Lady of the Sand.
On the Garbarska Street side, the church adjoins the Chapel of Our Lady of the Sand, designed by Giovanni Trevano. The image of Our Lady of the Sand, also called the Lady of Kraków, was painted on the wall at the end of the 15th century by an unknown friar. King John III Sobieski prayed here before setting off for Vienna in 1683. On the 200th anniversary of the Vienna victory, the image was crowned with papal crowns designed by Jan Matejko; a plaque on the facade commemorates the coronation of 1883. In the same chapel, in 1864, Matejko married Teodora Giebułtowska.
Did you know?
On the Garbarska Street side, a stone block with the imprint of a foot is set into the church wall. It is called Queen Jadwiga's footprint, and it is linked with a legend about the queen visiting the building site and giving a gift to one of the stonemasons.