The Royal Road

The Royal Road leads from Nowa Słupia to the summit of Łysa Góra. The roughly three-kilometre ascent links the settlement at the foot of the mountain with the sanctuary that has drawn pilgrims for centuries.

The relics made Łysa Góra a sanctuary visited by rulers. Władysław Jagiełło came here seven times, among others on his way to his coronation and during the Grunwald campaign. His son Casimir IV Jagiellon visited the abbey as many as ten times.

Their successors continued the tradition: Sigismund the Old made the pilgrimage to Święty Krzyż six times and Sigismund Augustus three times. In 1607 Sigismund III Vasa came here after his victory over the rebels of the rokosz. Altogether four Jagiellonian kings visited the sanctuary 26 times.

Royal support left its mark on the walls. In the mid-15th century Abbot Michał of Lipie, with the support of Casimir IV Jagiellon, enlarged the church, and Cardinal Zbigniew Oleśnicki paid for the chancel and the high altar, consecrated on 12 March 1455. The royal visits were bound up with the cult of the relics, then kept in the Gothic church. The king and the cardinal also funded the Gothic cloisters, which survive to this day.