St Mary’s Basilica in Cracow

You can get your medals at the ticket office to the right of the Basilica!

The Gothic arch-presbyterial church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, built in the 14th/15th century, is a Gothic three-nave basilica surrounded by a ring of chapels. It is the most famous church in Poland. It is one of the symbols of Krakow due to its late Gothic altarpiece by Wit Stwosz and the St. Mary’s bugle call played every hour from the church tower.

From 1952 to 1957, John Paul II was a preacher and confessor in this Basilica. As Pope, he visited the Basilica three times, and in 1991 he celebrated Mass at the altar standing at its entrance, during which he beatified Blessed Aniela Salawa. On 17 May 1981, all the participants in the White March, organised after the assassination attempt on the life of John Paul II, gathered in front of St Mary’s Basilica. Plaques commemorating the beatification of Aniela Salawa and the White March are embedded in the wall of the church (from the side of the Main Market Square).

Photos: Piotr Ładoś, Ryszard Dydek.