The 8th Station of the Cross

The 8th Station of the Cross depicts Jesus meeting the weeping women of Jerusalem. The scene takes place on the way to the site of the crucifixion. The women mourn the condemned man, but Jesus directs their attention towards themselves and their children. It is not a representation of the Descent from the Cross or later mourning at the tomb.

This station centres on words spoken to the women, rather than another fall or help with carrying the cross. Jesus calls them daughters of Jerusalem. The conversation interrupts the sequence of events involving physical suffering and introduces the fate of the city's inhabitants.

The Wambierzyce Way of the Cross was established in 1732. Its first stations were marked by wooden crosses with sheet-metal rosettes, and later rebuilding changed their form. This history concerns the complete cycle, distinct from the wider numbering of the other Calvary chapels. The number VIII identifies the scene's place in the Way of the Cross, not the eighth structure in the whole complex.