ARK OF THE LORD

The construction of the Ark of the Lord was the result of an intense struggle by the inhabitants against the communist regime, which wanted a "city without God". Unfortunately, the workers of Nowa Huta, often from the countryside, won. It was the future Pope John Paul II, Karol Wojtyła, then archbishop of Krakow, who laid the foundation stone of the church in 1969, in this case a fragment of the tomb of St. Peter sent by the Vatican.

The temple resembles Noah's Ark, stranded on Mount Ararat, with its 70 m high mast in the shape of a cross surrounded by a crown. It should be seen as a metaphor that Christianity will survive communism. Inside the church, there is a gigantic bronze Christ, 8 m high, crucified but without a cross. In the months following the opening of the church, masses were celebrated every 30 minutes on Sundays to cope with the crowds. From December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, during the Martial Law, on the 13th of each month in this church, the "Mass for the Fatherland" was celebrated, for social justice and respect for human rights. These masses were followed by demonstrations against the violation of civil rights by the authorities, which were severely repressed by the police. The most famous victim of these riots was Bogdan Włosik, a 19-year-old student working at the steel mill. In front of the church is the monument commemorating the place where Włosik was killed by a secret police agent in 1982.