Basilica of the Visitation (

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

:''Sanktuarium Wambierzyckiej Królowej Rodzin'') - a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

basilica minor In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular b ...

located in

Wambierzyce Wambierzyce ( cs, Vambeřice, german: Albendorf) is a village and popular Catholic pilgrimage site in south-western Poland, in Gmina Radków, Kłodzko County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is situated at an altitude of 370–410 m in the pi ...

. The basilica was built between 1715 and 1723. The basilica was given the status of a

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...

in 1936.

History

The present

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

is located on a hill, where in the twelfth-century, stood a wooden figure of Mary, the Mother of God. According to a chronicle from 1218, the blind Jan from Raszewo (''Jan z Raszewa'') regained his sight there. After the event, many pilgrims began visiting the area. Shortly afterwards, an

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

, together with candlesticks and a

baptismal font A baptismal font is an article of church furniture used for baptism. Aspersion and affusion fonts The fonts of many Christian denominations are for baptisms using a non-immersive method, such as aspersion (sprinkling) or affusion (pouring). ...

, was placed by the statue under the tree. In 1263, a wooden church was built on the hill. In 1512, Ludwik von Panwitz raised a greater church, constructed out of

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

. However, the church was destroyed during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

. Between 1695 and 1711, a new church was built, but quickly began to crumble and was deconstructed in 1714. Between 1715 and 1723, another church was built by

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

Franciszek Antony von Goetzen, which stands to the present day. In 1936,

gave the basilica the status of

. In August 1987,

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

Stefan Wyszyński Stefan Wyszyński (3 August 1901 – 28 May 1981) was a Polish prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the bishop of Lublin from 1946 to 1948, archbishop of Warsaw and archbishop of Gniezno from 1948 to 1981. He was created a cardinal on ...

had crowned the statue of Mary, the Mother of God, giving her the name of Wambierzyce Queen of Families (''Wambierzycka Królowa Rodzin'').

References

{{Reflist Basilica churches in Poland Roman Catholic churches completed in 1723 Kłodzko County

1723 establishments in Europe 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Poland