Hi there my Hivean friends and followers!
Welcome to my Architectural Photography series where I introduce you to interesting buildings that I get to visit on my travels. The past few episodes of the series were dedicated to remarkable pieces of Krakow architecture because this beautiful Polish city has been our temporary home for a couple of months already and my today´s post will show you yet another impressive architectural gem of the city - the renowned Pauline Monastery of Skalka.
To be honest with you guys, I got quite confused while doing the research on this extraordinary architectural complex. Let me start out with the actual name of it. According to Wikipedia, the official name of the church is the Saint Michael the Archangel and Saint Stanislaus the Bishop and Martyr Basilica but in fact, it´s commonly referred to as a Pauline Monastery.
Moreover, as the whole complex is located on a little rocky outcrop just above the bank of the Wisla River, this place is also known colloquially just as Skalka, which means a little rock in the Polish language (and in Czech too btw). So you can also find this building being referred to as the Skalka Church, the Skalka Monastery or the Skalka Sanctuary.
The history of this place also seems to be quite complicated but very long and dark too. Originally, there was an ancient Romanesque church on the site, probably dating to the 10th century or possibly even earlier. In 1079, the Polish king Boleslaw II (also known as Boleslaw the Generous, Boleslaw the Bold or, probably more appropriately, Boleslaw the Cruel) had Stanislaus of Szczepanow, then Bishop of Krakow, killed in the church. Allegedly, the bishop was beheaded and quartered on the king´s order.
In the 14 century, the church was reconstructed in the Gothic architectural style and since 1472, it has been owned by the monastic community of the Pauline Fathers. Later on, in the first half of the 18th century, the monastery got some dominant Baroque features that gave the complex its current appearance.
Because of the Stanislaus of Szczepanow martyrdom, the Skalka Monastery became one of the most important religious and pilgrimage sites in Poland. All newly elected Polish kings would visit this place prior to their coronation to remember the hideous act of one of their predecessors. Stanislaus was canonized by Pope Innocent IV in Assisi, Italy in 1253. He also became the patron saint of both Krakow as well as all Poland.
Underneath the monastery, there is a crypt that serves as the final resting place of many prominent Polish figures including artists, writers, scientists, politicians etc. When I was taking these photos just a few days ago, the crypt was closed and the interiors of the church probably too but I will try to get in there later to see if it is as impressive in the inside as it is from the outside.
There are also statues, altars and some other monuments in the garden next to the monastery. The whole place is very large and one can easily spend several hours in there, included the visit of the crypt and the interiors.
I hope that you enjoyed this episode of my Architectural Photography series and that you also learned something new from this post. I actually wanted to take some photos of this magnificent piece of architecture and write a post about it for quite some time already but I had to wait for better weather as the place was covered in snow until recently. I think the pictures eventually turned out pretty nice. (The one taken from across the river is actually zoomed in quite a lot, hence the lower sharpness of this one).
This is also my very first contribution to the Architecture+Design community run by great Hivers 
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