Kalwaria Zebrzydowska

In 1600 Mikolaj Zebrzydowski, a Krakow palatine, noticed that the hills of his estate resembled descriptions of the country around Jerusalem, and had a Calvary laid out accordingly: a Bernardine monastery on one hill and, spread over the wooded slopes around it, a set of chapels marking the stations of the Passion and later the life of the Virgin, placed at distances meant to match the originals in the Holy Land. There are about forty of them now, built between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries in a mix of styles, several designed by a Flemish architect who was also a goldsmith. What makes it work is that the landscape was treated as part of the architecture and has not been built over since. It is on the UNESCO list for exactly that. The Passion play in Holy Week and the Assumption in August draw very large crowds who walk the routes; the rest of the year it is a quiet set of forest paths with chapels on them.

What you actually see

• About forty chapels - spread across wooded hills as stations of the Passion.
• A designed landscape - distances laid out to match the topography of Jerusalem.
• The Bernardine monastery - the basilica at the centre of the route.
• Walking paths - the routes are covered on foot, over several kilometres.

When to go

April to October; Holy Week and mid-August for the processions. A day.

Honest expectations

Walking the full route is several kilometres over hills. Individual chapels are often locked outside pilgrimage days. Holy Week and 15 August bring enormous crowds and closed roads. This is a devotional site first.

Nearby

Wadowice is nine kilometres away; Lanckorona sits on the next hill.