Zinar Castle

Skałka, like the Wawel Hill, belongs to places with a long and rich history dating back to the Stone Age, and its modern history is not only strongly associated with the history of the Polish nation, but also has numerous legends.

The church on Skałka is associated primarily with the martyrdom of the Krakow bishop Stanisław of Szczepanów, the patron saint of Poland, and with the Pauline Fathers present here thanks to Jan Długosz.

A white church on a small hill, partially surrounded by a 5-meter high stone wall, it hides more than one secret. The most bothering (especially for historians) is the already mentioned death of Bishop Stanisław in 1079. As a result of a conflict with King Bolesław the Bold, he sentenced the bishop to death by cutting off his members, while some say that the king himself raised a sword on him. The brutal murder was to be performed during the bishop's celebration of the Holy Mass. in the church on Skałka. Wincenty Kadłubek in the Polish Chronicle, in which, apart from facts, traditions and myths, there is also a lot of poetic fantasy, he wrote that the bloody parts of Bishop Stanisław scattered in front of the church were guarded by huge eagles, and when people, attracted by strange light and brightness, found the body bishop fused and without any signs of scarring. Originally, the bishop was buried in Skałka, and after 10 years the coffin was moved to the Wawel cathedral, where crowds of pilgrims gathered.

Today's church on Skałka is probably the third one that was erected in this place. The original Romanesque rotunda of St. Michael the Archangel, in which Bishop Stanisław was to die, was rebuilt in the Gothic style from the foundation of Casimir the Great in the fourteenth century. This church, destroyed during the Swedish invasion in the mid-17th century, was decided to demolish. The final appearance of the current - baroque - building, including the monumental two-flight stairs leading to the interior of the temple, we owe to the Warsaw architect Antoni Solari. The new church was given a double call: St. Michael the Archangel and St. Stanislaus the Bishop and Martyr. At that time, also the monastery connected with the church. The Pauline Fathers gained the appearance of a Renaissance castle in the Italian style.

Currently, inside the church, in the altar of the chapel of St. Stanislaus, we can see the trunk on which drops of the bishop's blood fell upon his death. On the wall of the chapel, behind the glass oculus, there are the preserved remains of the stone steps of the altar, on which the angry king was to kill the martyr. The pond next to the church became an important place of bishop's cult. According to one version of the legend, it was to her that the eagles transferred the dismembered body of the bishop, which miraculously coalesced there. At the end of the 17th century, the pond was fenced and fenced, and in its center a baroque statue of the holy martyr was erected. The local water was believed to have healing properties, especially beneficial to eye and skin diseases.

Every year, on the first Sunday after May 8 (i.e. after the feast of St. Stanislaus), the faithful, carrying the relics of the bishop and other saints, travel route from Wawel to Skałka. This tradition dates back to the canonization of the bishop, i.e. 1253. Polish kings also made a pilgrimage to Skałka on the eve of their coronation. It was a form of penance for the act of Bolesław the Bold.

Under the basilica there is the Crypt of the Meritorious.