Kalwaria on the UNESCO – World Heritage List

Kalwaria Zebrzydowska as a historical architectural, park landscape and pilgrimage complex – the basilica, the Franciscan monastery and the avenues- which is of a unique cultural, natural and religious value – was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List on 1^st December 1999 as the only Calvary in the world, and there are more than one thousand of them in Europe, during a session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Marrakesh, Morocco. The inscription took place under the name: Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist architectural and park landscape complex and pilgrimage park. The committee inscribed Kalwaria on the basis of the following criteria:

1. Kalwaria Zebrzydowska is an exceptional cultural monument in which the natural landscape was used as a setting for a symbolic representation in the form of chapels and avenues of the events of the Passion of Christ. The result is a cultural landscape of great beauty and spiritual quality in which natural and made elements combine in a harmonious manner.

2. The Counter Reformation in the late 16^th century led to a flowering in the creation of Calvaries in Europe. Kalwaria Zebrzydowska is an outstanding example of this type of large-scale landscape design, which incorporates natural beauty with spiritual objectives and the principles of Baroque park design.

There are more than 788 (2004) objects from all over the world in the World Heritage List, unrepeatable works of man and the Nature, which should be preserved. In the world the places inscribed on the list are, among other: Jerusalem, the Vatican, the Palace in Versailles, the Emperor’s Palace in Beijing, and other.

World Heritage Sites in Poland

Historic Centre of Cracow

Wieliczka Salt Mine

Auschwitz Concentration Camp

Belovezhskaya Pushcha/Bialowieza Forest

Historic Center of Warsaw

Old City of Zamosc

Medieval Town of Torun

Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork

Kalwaria Zebrzydowska

Churches of Peace in Jawor and Swidnica

Wooden Churches of Southern Little Poland

These wooden medieval churches include:

Church of the Archangel Michael, Binarowa

Church of All Saints, Blizne

Church of the Archangel Michael, Debno

Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Archangel Michael, Haczow

Church of St. Leonard, Lipnica Murowana

Church of St Hilip and St James the Apostles, Sekowa

Muskauer Park / Park Muzakowski

And if I want to encourage you and excite you towards something it is to make you not stop visiting this sanctuary.

John Paul II in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, 7^th June, 1979