Divine Mercy Sanctuary

Divine Mercy Sanctuary tickets: which one to buy

Entry to the basilica, the old convent chapel and the grounds is free; the only ticket is for the lift to the top of the 77-metre tower, which costs a token sum and gives a view over Krakow. The sanctuary lies in Lagiewniki, about four kilometres south of the Old Town, reached by tram in twenty minutes or by a short taxi ride. Tours from Krakow pair it with the John Paul II Centre on the next hill, linked by a footbridge, and cost a moderate amount for the transport and the guide.

Pilgrim groups dominate the site and the hourly masses. There is a large car park, a cafeteria and a shop selling devotional images. Nothing needs booking except for organised group masses. Confession is heard in many languages in a long corridor of booths, which is a service rather than an attraction but explains much of the traffic.

Visiting Divine Mercy Sanctuary: what to see

Faustina Kowalska, a nun in the convent here, recorded visions of Christ between 1931 and 1938 and described an image she was told to have painted: Christ in white with two rays, one pale and one red, streaming from his heart. That image and her diary became the basis of the Divine Mercy devotion, which John Paul II, who worked at a nearby chemical plant during the war, promoted throughout his papacy and which is now one of the most widespread Catholic devotions in the world.

The neo-Gothic convent chapel of 1891 holds her tomb and the original painting. Beside it stands the new basilica, built between 1999 and 2002 to a design by Witold Ceckiewicz, elliptical in plan and shaped like a boat with the tower as its mast; it seats 5,000 and its lower church contains chapels given by different nations. The image venerated here is not the original 1934 painting by Eugeniusz Kazimirowski, which hangs in Vilnius, but a later version by Adolf Hyla made in 1943.

Divine Mercy Sanctuary opening hours and the best time to go

Open daily from early morning to late evening, with masses through the day in the basilica and the chapel. The Hour of Mercy at three in the afternoon is observed here with particular seriousness and the chapel fills. Divine Mercy Sunday, the first Sunday after Easter, brings tens of thousands and the site becomes impassable. Ordinary weekday mornings are quiet.

The complex is modern, level and fully accessible, unusual among Polish pilgrimage sites. Dress modestly. Photography is allowed outside and discouraged in the chapel. Allow an hour, two with the tower and the John Paul II Centre, whose lower church is lined in mosaic by Marko Rupnik and is worth the walk across the bridge. Wadowice, the town where Karol Wojtyla was born, is an hour west and is the usual second stop on a pilgrimage day.