Thursday, 20 July 2017

And did Her feet...?

William Blake's And Did Those Feet In Ancient Time (known also as Jerusalem) postulates that Jesus visited England during His lifetime, when England was indeed heavenly, prior to the Industrial Revolution, whose mills Blake described as 'satanic'.

And here in Mazowsze, 33km (21 miles) south of Warsaw, is the village of Pieczyska, which, local tradition has it, was visited by the Blessed Virgin Mary. On an erratic boulder, deposited here at the end of the Ice Age, can be seen three indentations shaped like footprints. Around this boulder, a shrine was erected, half a kilometer from the church which dates back to 1452.

At the site of the boulder, a small shrine has been erected, below.


Below: the shrine, the boulder. To the right, you can make out one of the foot-shaped indentations.



Left: the most foot-shaped of the indentations is at the rear of the boulder, facing the shrine. There are over 1,000 erratic boulders across Poland with monument status; many of these have a religious significance.

Below: there is good signage for pilgrims seeking the boulder. 'Boulder so-called Foot of the Holy Mother of Pieczyska'; 'Place of Cult' and simply 'To the boulder'.

Pieczyska itself. A village of just over 100 souls. The church below has two parts, a Gothic presbytery dating back to the mid-15th century, and a neo-gothic main part, built in the early 20th century to replace the original wooden part which burnt down in 1836. View from the south.


Below: view from the west. A good photo opportunity for one of my bikes.




This time last year:
40 years ago - Montserrat, holiday that would shape my life

This time two years ago:
Last night's storm

This time three years ago:
Drifting south with the sun: bicycle hobo

This time five years ago:
Royal Parks in the rain

This time six years ago:
Storm clouds over Warsaw, Dolinka under water

This time seven years ago:
Round-up of pics from Dobra

This time eight years ago:
Conservatism - UK or Polish style?

This time nine years ago:
Wheat and development

This time ten years ago:
A previous visit to London

2 comments:

adthelad said...

Not to quibble but feel that your translation 'Boulder so-called Foot of the Holy Mother of Pieczyska' would more adeptly be put as 'The Stone' (better) known as 'the Foot of Our Lady of Pieczyska' though 'Matka Boska' translates, as we both know, as the 'Mother of God' rather than 'Holy Mother' or 'Our Lady' :)
BTW Thanks for the heads up - must pop over and visit the place one day.

Michael Dembinski said...

@ adthelad

This is a literal translation without any attempt at cultural niceties...

T.zw = Tak zawany = So called.

Kamień = stone, rock but...

Boulder = głaz eratyczny

Yes, Pieczyska is worth a visit, especially on a sunny day.