Kalwaria Zebrzydowska – unique on the UNESCO World Heritage List

Kalwaria Zebrzydowska has a special place on the trail of the most valuable Polish monuments. The mannerist architectural and landscape complex as well as the pilgrimage park are an example of an exceptionally successful combination of nature and human activities.

Out of over 1,000 European calvaries Kalwaria Zebrzydowska is the only one in the world to be included on the UNESCO World Heritage List (entered in 1999). It is a unique cultural monument and where the natural landscape was used as a place of symbolic reflection of the events of the Passion in the form of chapels and alleys. In 2000, by the regulation of the President of the Republic of Poland, the Mannerist landscape complex of the pilgrimage park was recognized as a Historical Monument.

The border of the historic complex includes 44 architectural objects, located on an area of 160 ha.

It runs from the Benedictine Fathers Monastery, the main church and the former Czartoryski palace, further eastwards to Brody, the Mount of Olives and the castle in Lanckorona, then west to the bridge over the River Cedron, then to Bugaj, Mount Sinai, to the castle in Barwałd and back in the north-east direction – to the Mount of Olives and the monastery.

Information based on the Feasibility Study of the Sanctuary Heritage project in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska on the UNESCO trail.