Krakow City of the Saints - Lord's Ark. Nowa Huta (“New Steel Mill”) was designed to be a town of a modern society. From the communist point of view religion was an old-fashioned invention, which the …More
Krakow City of the Saints - Lord's Ark.
Nowa Huta (“New Steel Mill”) was designed to be a town of a modern society. From the communist point of view religion was an old-fashioned invention, which the authorities tried to root out. In the original plans of Nowa Huta from the 1940s there was left a site for a church. However, it was never built there. As years passed by, the relationship between the Church and the state became more and more tense. The permission to build a church seemed impossible to obtain. Due to this, the first church in Nowa Huta, built by the workers themselves, was a symbol of victory and freedom for them. The efforts to erect a temple in this district began already in the 1950s. For many years there stood a cross in this place. The attempt to remove it ended up in clashes between the Militia forces and the workers, who protected the Holy Cross. Eventually a church was consecrated here in 1977. The church in Nowa Huta was constructed with, among others, the effort of contemporary archbishop of Cracow, Karol Wojtyła. Bishop Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, who started holding outdoor Christmas Eve Midnight Masses in 1959, regardless of weather, and replaced the cross every time it was removed. In 1967 permits to build the desired church were granted and a church called the Lord's Ark was built from 1969 to 1977.[5] The complex was consecrated by Wojtyla in May 1977.[6] Wojtyla himself, after being elected Pope in 1978, wanted to visit Nowa Huta during his first papal pilgrimage in 1979, but was not permitted to do so. © Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk
Source: Catholic Church (England and Wales) on Flickr
Nowa Huta (“New Steel Mill”) was designed to be a town of a modern society. From the communist point of view religion was an old-fashioned invention, which the authorities tried to root out. In the original plans of Nowa Huta from the 1940s there was left a site for a church. However, it was never built there. As years passed by, the relationship between the Church and the state became more and more tense. The permission to build a church seemed impossible to obtain. Due to this, the first church in Nowa Huta, built by the workers themselves, was a symbol of victory and freedom for them. The efforts to erect a temple in this district began already in the 1950s. For many years there stood a cross in this place. The attempt to remove it ended up in clashes between the Militia forces and the workers, who protected the Holy Cross. Eventually a church was consecrated here in 1977. The church in Nowa Huta was constructed with, among others, the effort of contemporary archbishop of Cracow, Karol Wojtyła. Bishop Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, who started holding outdoor Christmas Eve Midnight Masses in 1959, regardless of weather, and replaced the cross every time it was removed. In 1967 permits to build the desired church were granted and a church called the Lord's Ark was built from 1969 to 1977.[5] The complex was consecrated by Wojtyla in May 1977.[6] Wojtyla himself, after being elected Pope in 1978, wanted to visit Nowa Huta during his first papal pilgrimage in 1979, but was not permitted to do so. © Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk
Source: Catholic Church (England and Wales) on Flickr