Wawel Cathedral

The Archcathedral Basilica in the Wawel is a place that was especially familiar to Karol Wojtyła, beginning with his youngest years, when the celebrations of the Easter Week made such a great impression on him. "Since my childhood, there is in me this special affinity with Wawel Cathedral. I don't remember when I was there for the first time, but since I began to frequent it, I felt especially enchanted and personally attached to the cathedral. In a way, Wawel contains the entire history of Poland." (quoted from: John Paul II, Wstańcie, chodźmy!, Wydawnictwo św. Stanisława BM, Kraków 2004)

It was here, that Wojtyła celebrated his first holy mass after being ordained on 2nd November 1946 (in the underground crypt of St Leonard); in the cathedral he was consecrated as bishop in 1958, and, six years later, on 8th March 1964, he was installed as bishop and made the 76th Metropolitan of Kraków.

Whenever Wojtyła visited the cathedral as pope, he was welcomed by the sound of the Sigismund Bell. It also tolled on his departure on 2 April 2005.

In 2008, Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz blessed a three-metre-high monument to John Paul II designed by Kazimierz Gustaw Zemła.

See also: more about Wawel Cathedral