Way-shrines belong to the Polish landscape and they are an inseparable part of
the Polish history. A lot of them can also be found in the village Zabierzów and
its surroundings - Brzezinka, Rząska and Bolechowice. You can see here the
beautiful examples pf way-shrines which have its own unique character and some
of them are even little works of art.
A story started a long time ago. We don't know exactly when people started
building way- shrines. The word probably comes from the Italian word 'cappa'
which means 'cloak'. This cloak belonged to St. Martin (the bishop from Tours).
But this is only a speculation. According to historians way-shrines have
...pagan roots! What is more interesting they were connected with... funeral
rituals. Bodies of dead people were burnt and then ashes were put into small
boxes. After that people put them on the sides of the roads. Today's way-shrines
started to be built about XVIII century. People built them to thank God for
rescuing the village from the fire, getting well, and also to set a landmark or
just to worship God. Local artists created figures and pictures, painted and
decorated way-shrines which were made of brick or wood. They often stand by
roads, forests, meadows as well as near important places such as churches,
graveyards and places of revelations. In Brzezinka there is a beautiful
way-shrine with the painted image of the St. Mary from Częstochowa. The figure
is wearing a gold dress. It comes from around 1910 and it is very well-kept. In
Zabierzów there are lots of way-shrines, because they were very popular last
century. They are situated at Krakowska Street and Śląska Street which are the
main streets in the village.
