St Peter’s Church

St Peter’s Church

The new church fits into the panorama of old Wadowice from the side of the Skawa river and the first hills of the Beskids.

John Paul II
Wadowice, 14 August 1999

The St Peter the Apostle Church was built as a votive offering for having elected Karol Wojtyła to the Holy See and for having saved the Holy Father’s life after an assassination attempt on 13 May 1981 on the St Peter’s Square.

The design has been developed by a team of architects from the Krakow University of Technology under direction of Prof. Przemysław Szafer. It combines the Baroque and Highlander style and refers to the Roman St Peter’s Basilica by referring to the Roman triumphal arches. The construction commenced in 1984 was crowned with the consecration of the church by Pope John Paul II on 14.08.1991.

In front of the church, there is a statue of John Paul II by the Italian artist Luciano Minguzzi. Next to the church, there is a chapel consecrated in 1986 by Rev. Cardinal Franciszek Macharski, on the other side, there is a belfry with three bells named John Paul I, John Paul II and St Peter – the gift from the city of Vittorio Veneto, in which (in the years 1958-1969) the later John Paul I was bishop.

Inside the church, there is the main altar shaped as a horizontal projection of the St Peter’s Basilica with a copy of the fresco by Perugino from the Sistine Chapel. In the temple, there are side altars: of St Pope John Paul II with the Papal Throne used by the Pope in 1991, of Divine Mercy and particularly worshipped – as evidenced by numerous votive offerings – of Our Lady of Fatima. On the hillside behind the church, there is a symbolic Golgotha with numerous chapels.

Date of introduction: March 22, 2016