The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Jaworzyna in Wiktorówki

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The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Javorníky, Queen of the Tatra Mountains, was built at the clearing where, according to legend, the Mother of God appeared to a young highlander in the mid-19th century. The locals soon built a chapel here and placed a wooden statue of the Madonna in it, which is now in the altar. In the interwar period, the first Mass in the history of the Sanctuary was celebrated, and the chapel was extended in the 1950s, when a Tourist Pastoral Centre was established on Wiktorówki.

In 1958, Cardinal Karol Wojtyła entrusted the care of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Jaworzyna, Queen of the Tatra Mountains, to the Dominican Fathers. In 1992, the statue was crowned with papal crowns.

The wooden chapel blends in perfectly with the Tatra landscape – small, on a granite foundation, it is sheltered by a cloistered sable. The shrine is located on the Papal trail. A memorial route has been created around the chapel, with plaques dedicated to those who died in the mountains. A trail leads by the Sanctuary to the scenic Rusinowa Polana.