Thursday, October 11, 2012

Chapel on Water - Poland

Last March when i went to Poland, i've been to the Ojcow National Park. The main idea was to visit the Pieskowa and Ojcow castles but the 1st stop was to visit this chapel, St. Joseph Chapel.

Photo by Paula Ribeiro
One legend connects establishing the chapel with decision of Russian tsar Nikolai II, who prohibited to build temples on the ground of Ojców. It was punishment for taking part of the society with the uprising against Russian occupation. Clever people build the temple not on the ground, as it was prohibited, but on the water.
The legend, however beautiful, has nothing common with the truth. The building was constructed to attract the spa located on the river Prądnik, just 300 meters downstream.  Below the temple a dam was constructed. In this way one created small lake with the temple in the middle.     Today’s chapel os St. Joseph is built on the plan of Latin cross and dimensions 5x11 meters. It is an example of wooden construction in so called Switzerland-Ojców style. - in:
http://przewodnicypokrakowie.pl/ojcowski_national_park_chapel_on_water.htm

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