Tropic

Tropie – the sanctuary of Saints Andrew Świerad and Benedict. Saints Andrew Świerad and Benedict are little known and rarely mentioned in the Church. The cult of these monks is very alive in the area around Tropie, near Nowy Sącz by Lake Czchowskie, where they arrived from a Benedictine monastery in nearby Nitra (now in Slovakia) in the 10th century to lead a hermitic life.

The tiny church of Saint Andrew Świerad and Saint Benedict is one of the most precious monuments in Lesser Poland. Its oldest fragments date back to 1080-1090. The Romanesque presbytery dates to 1083, although the nave of the church is already later, having been built in the 14th century. Inside, there are valuable Romanesque polychromes and a painting of the Virgin Mary with Saint Catherine and Saint Barbara dated to the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. The location of the church on a hill above the surface of the lake provides a beautiful view.

A few hundred metres down the road, we can take a stroll to a small chapel carved into the rock at the site of an ancient hermitage. There is also a spring whose water (according to local beliefs) is said to have healing powers.

Next to the sanctuary, there is another attraction of a completely different kind – a ferry crossing over the Dunajec.

More information about the place can be read on the website: http://www.tropie.tarnow.opoka.org.pl/

Text author - Renata Gontarz

Photo author - Zbigniew Gontarz