/John Paul II, Shepherdess in the St. Peter’s Basilica, 2002/

May the Good News flowing from the crib
fill the heart of every human being, bringing hope and joy.

May it help us every day
to rebuild a community of love and peace,
overcoming all fears and difficulties.

Blessed Christmas
and rich in the good year 2023!

Rev. Łukasz Piórkowski – Director and Employees
of the Museum of the Holy Father John Paul II
Family Home in Wadowice

May the Risen Christ open our hearts
for a deep acceptance of the Paschal Mystery,
let him make us witnesses of hope and peace.

Blessed Easter!

Rev. Łukasz Piórkowski – Director
and Employees of the Family Home Museum
named after Holy Father John Paul II in Wadowice

The John Paul II Family Home Museum in Wadowice is a magical and unique record of the life of John Paul II and the contribution that his papacy gave to the world. The initial concept for the museum came Wadowice Town Council, and the Archdiocese of Kracow for enabling this challenging undertaking to succeed. The atmosphere of the family home and the life of Saint John Paul II has been captured perfectly as a result of the work of Barbara and Jarosław Kłaput, the designers and creators of the permanent exhibition. As a result of their talent and innovative use of modern multimedia, visitors – young and old, who met Karol Wojtyła in Wadowice – can explore every stage of his life. It is a story about an ordinary man, a man who attained his sainthood by working diligently, by faithfully following divine law and by believing in the great love of God and man. Emotions ranging from joy and fascination with the life of an exceptional individual to admiration for the grandeur of his spirit and mind are tempered by the tragic moments of his pontificate and the sadness of his final days as he was approaching the house of the Father. However, thanks to the Museum, we can also rediscover the genius of Karol, the man who became Pope.

As a consequence of the universal values from the Rev. Prelate Edward Zacher, a former religious instructor to the young Karol. On 18 May 1984, with the encouragement and support of Cardinal Franciszek Macharski, the Museum was formally opened in what had once been the Wojtyłas’ first floor flat. It was always run by the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. Some years later, following a proposed extension of the museum, the entire building was purchased with this purpose in mind. The Ryszard Krauze Foundation raised the necessary funds for this and presented them to the Archdiocese of Kracow, represented by Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz. The Cardinal, who had for many years closely cooperated with John Paul II, donated numerous objects relating to their friendship to the Museum, for which we are extremely grateful. \

We also wish to extend our gratitude to all those who have supported the Museum with their gifts, memorabilia and their invaluable advice and kindness. We would further like to also express our gratitude to the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Małopolska Voivodeship, promoted by John Paul II, a visit to our Museum has a multidimensional character; by keeping memories of him alive and by promoting a greater understanding of the man, to whom Poland and the world owes so much, we hope to pass on the spirit and the values of John Paul II to successive
generations.

Let us follow this path together. May this book guide us through his home which has become a home to us all. Let the pilgrim’s passion of the great Saint of Wadowice inspire us and be our beacon on the paths that lie before us. May all those who enter the Museum instantly feel as though they themselves have finally returned home.

The front of the tenement building will be restored to its original appearance dating back to the 1920’s and the Museum will take up the entire renovated building. The renovated three-room flat of the Wojtyłas on the second floor will preserve its family home character and remain the heart of the Museum. However, the project provides for presenting various aspects of Karol Wojtyła’s later life. The first room will recreate the atmosphere of a complete family whereas in the second one the mother’s presence will fade away since she passed away when Karol was just nine years old; the third room will evoke another tragic event – the death of his brother – with its austere interior in which the orphaned Karol lived alone with his father.

The space will increase from 200 square meters originally to 1,000 square meters on four floors, thanks to, among other things, the expansion and adaptation of the basement and attic. Numerous multimedia, animation and surprisingly authentic components of the display will vividly bring the meetings between Pope John Paul II and other people to life. Effective interaction with the visitors will keep the Museum alive and entice them to come back.

The Holy Father John Paul II Family Home was designed by Kłaput Project Design Studio which developed the design for (among others) the Museum of the Warsaw Uprising, an institution generating great interest of the general public. Barbara and Jarosław Kłaputs’ project offers a unique insight into the Pope’s personality and an unconventional take on his teaching and message. Biuro Projektów Lewicki Łatak Architectural Engineers developed the construction design of the building. The new Museum will open in the first quarter of 2013 –

The design was presented on October 5, 2010 at the official groundbreaking ceremony to start the reconstruction of the Holy Father John Paul II Family Home Museum.

The project is financed with an EU grant under “Priority 3.3 Scheme A: Development of Cultural Infrastructure of the Małopolska Regional Operational Programme 2007-2013”.

It was a great gift of the Divine Love that Karol Wojtyła could spend here the years of his childhood and youth, the most important time in the life of every man. In the town with only a few thousand inhabitants, which had a rich and proud history, dating back to the 14th c., where life was slow but, by no means, sleepy. In the Second Republic, the town of Wadowice, located far from the political centres, protected from economic disruption, distinguished itself by its cultural and spiritual wealth.

The life of a town in the Second Republic, like centuries before and years after, was focused around the market place, surrounded by the town houses, offering numerous shops, services and offices. The square was dominated by the harmonious, baroque silhouette of the Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, crowned with its onion tower. On one side of the church stood the Town Hall, and on the other – the house of Chiel Bałamuth, today the Museum of the Holy Father John Paul II Family Home.

The character of the pre-war Wadowice was influenced by the three, then quite numerous, professional groups: office clerks, teachers and servicemen. The town, located at the crossroads between Silesia and Kraków, with a railway line, was an administrative centre for the local county, which included a few neighbouring towns and villages. There was also the office of the local governor, the seat of the County Council and of the Regional Court. Moreover, the town had a prison, tax and revenue office, state police station, municipal hospital and some other important municipal offices.

There were also several, state and private, single-sex schools, with two outstanding ones: “Michalina Mościcka” High Girls’ School and “Marcin Wadowita” High Boys’ School. Another important presence in the life of the town was that of the 12th Infantry Regiment, quartered in the former Austrian army barracks, where first lieutenant Karol Wojtyła Sr. used to work. The office clerks, freelancers, teachers and professional servicemen were the elite of the pre-war Wadowice. They were educated, had cultural aspirations, strong sense of patriotism and of civic duty. They initiated numerous societies, groups and organizations of cultural, artistic, educational, sport, tourist and religious profile, making up the rich fabric of the civic society. In the pre-war Republic of Poland, the town was phenomenal inasmuch as it had a few amateur theatre groups, with the most outstanding troupe of Mieczysław Kotlarczyk, present on many stages, including the biggest and most professional stage in the building of the Polish Gymnastics Society “Falcon”.

It staged the works of the Polish romantic playwrights and poets as well as authors of Young Poland, a modernist trend in Polish art and literature. Wadowice also hosted professional actors, poets and renowned pianists. The spiritual atmosphere of the town had its source not only at the parish church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary but also at two monastries, i.e. the Carmelite Monks at “Górka”, where father Rafał Kalinowski died in 1907, the Pallottines at Kopiec and a convent of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, who ran a nursery.

This atmosphere was also influenced by the nearby Shrine of Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, with its unique paths devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to the Passion of Jesus Christ. The organizations, institutions and societies based in Wadowice, apart from their individual missions, were all united in their aspiration to educate young people in the spirit of love of their Homeland, civic responsibility and Catholic faith. This unity of ideals, represented by the family, school and the Church, contributed to the harmonious development of the young people and helped to engender a sense of honesty in the way of thinking, Karol Wojtyła wrote about.

The pre-war Wadowice – which lived a life of a city rather than town – gave Karol Wojtyła a chance to experience this “rhythm of urban life”. What is important, there was also a Jewish community. The Poles and the Jews, who accounted for over 10 per cent of the population of pre-war Wadowice, lived together, mutually respecting their identities.

A young person, to develop fully, also needs to be close to nature and have contact with it, to feel “the rhythm of earth”. Wadowice, located upon the Skawa River, at the foot of the Beskid Mały mountain chain, offered a wonderful view from the town, attracting hikers and walkers. The character of the pre-war Wadowice and its atmosphere created favourable conditions for discovering and developing the talents which God gave to Karol Wojtyła. Although, with time, the whole world became home to Wojtyła, it all started here, in Wadowice.

The tenement house at No 7 Kościelna Street (formerly No 2 Rynek) was built around 1870. It used to belong to Seweryn Kurowski, a chemist and deputy mayor of Wadowice. In 1905, the house became the property of Józef Lisko, a confectioner, who – six years later – sold it to a Jew, Chaim Bałamuth, a merchant and president of the local Jewish community as well as a town alderman. There, Bałamuth ran a hardware store facing the Square, and Adolf Zadora had a bookbinding workshop in the back while upstairs flats were rented out to lodgers.

In 1919, Karol Wojtyła Sr., his wife Emilia Kaczorowska and their 13-year-old son Edmund moved in, taking up two rooms and a kitchen. Their second son, Karol Józef (the future Holy Father John Paul II) was born there on May 18, 1920 and lived there for the next eighteen years. During that time, he lost both his mother who died in 1929 and his brother Edmund who passed away in 1932. Together with his father he left Wadowice in 1938 to study at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, majoring in Polish.

Their old home had undergone many changes: a parquet floor replaced the old painted boards; the doors connecting an enfilade suite of rooms were moved from close to the windows to the center of the walls; a new door opened to the balcony now; two windows (overlooking the church) were walled up; and finally, three more rooms were added.

The Oldest Museum Commemorating the Life of John Paul II and His Ties with Homeland

The idea to set up a museum dedicated to the Pope was first conceived by Rev. Prelate Edward Zacher, Ph.D., long serving the Holy Father as his religion teacher and a parish priest in Wadowice, and His Eminence Franciszek Cardinal Macharski. Before the museum could be established, it was necessary to find substitute flats for the lodgers.

Father Zacher proved very helpful in handling the formalities while the Metropolitan Curia of Cracow and the Wadowice Town Council both offered their support. By 1980, most lodgers had moved out making it possible to undertake major renovation of the building in 1981-1982. The house was very dilapidated and required reinforcing the floors, replacing the wooden balcony with a concrete one, replacing the windows and laying a new parquet floor.

On May 18, 1984 – John Paul II’s 64th birthday – the exhibition in the Holy Father John Paul II Family Home was ready.

As only very few original fixtures and furniture of the Wojtyłas’ flat survived, the exhibition had the character of a rather permanent biographical display. Its objective was to portray and preserve for posterity the life and works of Karol Wojtyła in Poland before he became the Bishop of Rome. The exhibition consisted of John Paul II’s personal belongings and chronologically arranged papers, handwritten documents, books and photographs. The most valuable exhibits included: a picture – the First Holy Communion keepsake; a scapular presented to young Karol Wojtyła by the Carmelite Fathers of Wadowice on “Górka”; a picture taken at his first Holy Mass Service with his autograph; two rosaries of the Holy Father (one given to him by Sister Lucia of Fatima); his cardinal’s garment; the papal garment which he put on immediately after being elected the Pope. The exhibition was designed by Marek Rostworowski.

In 1998, two more rooms were added to the permanent exhibition to showcase a composition of photographs arranged so as to symbolically depict Pope John Paul II and his homeland. The photographs were taken during the Holy Father’s three visits to Wadowice and at the 20th anniversary of his appointment to the Holy See.

The museum, run by the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, became very popular with pilgrims and tourists from all over the world.

Chronology of the Museum of the Holy Father John Paul II Family Home in Wadowice

• 18 May 1984 – the Museum opens on the 64th birthday of John Paul II. It houses a permanent exhibition staged in the original two room apartment of the Wojtyła family, on the first floor at Kościelna St., 7 (formerly at Rynek 2). The exhibition was designed by prof. Marek Rostworowski.
• 1984–2010 – the Museum is a part of the Archdiocese of Kraków, run by the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. As the number of exhibits grows, the Museum is extended into another apartment on the first floor.
• March 2006 – the building is purchased from the legal successors of its prewar owners by the Ryszard Krauze Foundation and donated to the
  Archdiocese of Kraków.
• 2007–2008 – Preparation of the new museum concept by Barbara and Jaroslaw Kłaput. Development of the museum reconstruction project. The exhibition area will be extended up to
  approx. 1200 sq. m, occupying the four levels of the building, i.e. the basement, ground floor, first floor and attic.
• 6 April 2009 – the ownership of copyright on the concept and preliminary design for the extension, purchased by the Ryszard Krauze Foundation, is transferred to the Archdiocese of Kraków.
• 16 October 2009 – a letter of intent to establish a new cultural institution, the Museum of the Holy Father John Paul II Family Home in Wadowice, is signed by four entities: the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Małopolskie Voivodeship Office, the Archdiocese of Kraków and the Borough of Wadowice.
• 1 April 2010 – an agreement for the establishment of the Museum is signed.
• 7 April 2011 – the Museum Council and its Chair, Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko, are appointed.
• 18 May 2011 – a co-funding agreement is signed; it envisages the provision of EU funds under the Małopolska Regional Operational Programme.
• 6 September 2010–27 March 2013 – renovation and construction works are carried out by J. Kasperczyk  sp. j. construction company, based in Smardzowice near Kraków.
• 28 July 2011 – signing a contract for the design and implementation of the permanent exhibition. Contractors: Barbara and Jaroslaw Kłaput / “Kłaput Project” in Warsaw.
• 10 April 2013 – an agreement for the provision and installation of multimedia equipment is signed. Supplier: Trias SA z Torunia.
• 9 April 2014 – the new permanent exhibition opens in the reconstructed Museum of the Holy Father John Paul II Family Home in Wadowice.

May our born Saviour
Bestow upon us His blessing.

Let the Christmas time, full of grace and gifts of the night of Bethlehem,
become a great beginning of the New Year.

Management and Employees of
Holy Father John Paul II Family Home in Wadowice

Ojca Świętego Jana Pawła II w Wadowicach

The museum will be open every day from 10:00 to 18:00. Last admission to the permanent exhibition will be possible at 5 pm.

Due to the restrictions imposed following the coronavirus pandemic, the visit will only be possible individually (without a guide). The museum has adapted to the new health procedures. Hand disinfectants and disposable gloves will be available to all visitors.

For the safety of visitors we have limited the number of visitors, we have not made the cloakroom available to visitors, we have introduced new regulations for tourist visits, we have installed clear plastic dividers or transparent protective glass at the ticket offices and service areas, the staff has been trained on prevention and protection measures in the context of COVID-19. Our employees have been equipped with gloves, masks and helmets, we disinfect the rooms and keep them clean. We do not provide touch devices, in return we offer the possibility of downloading their content via QR codes.

Tickets can be purchased via our website: https://bilety.domjp2.pl/ or at the Museum ticket office. We encourage you to make cashless payments. It is not possible to book tickets by phone.

You’re welcome!

of our Lord who brings life,

we wish you every success in this paschal time.

May this Easter, full of peace and reconciliation,

become a yeast for renewal of your dailiness.

May God of real life change our hearts,

filling them up with unshakable faith,

endless hope and real love.

We wish you blessed Easter!

Rev. Łukasz Piórkowski – Director
and Employees of the Museum of the Holy Father
John Paul II Family Home in Wadowice

Let us face the future with confidence,
despite the darkness and difficulties of our daily life.
May the future be an invitation for us
to a creative transformation of reality.

At the end of the special year
dedicated to the celebration of the centenary of the Holy Father’s birth,
we hope that the new year will bring you a more peaceful tomorrow,
full of wonder for everyday life.
May St. John Paul II bless us.

Rev. Łukasz Piórkowski – director and employees
of the Museum Family Home of the Holy Father John Paul II in Wadowice