Calvary (sanctuary)

This article is about complex of chapels. For crucifix, see Calvary (sculpture).

Calvary is the hill in Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified. It may mean also a set of religious edifices imitating it, often constructed on hills, sometimes called Sacred Mount/-ain. It functions as a sanctuary of the Passion of Christ where Mystery plays are held before Easter, often with miraculous images of Our Lady of Sorrows and sometimes the relics of the True Cross. This kind of shrine was especially popular in the Baroque period when the Holy Land was under Turkish rule and it was difficult to make a pilgrimage to the Mount Calvary in Jerusalem. Calvaries were especially popular in the Franciscans and Jesuit orders. They were usually placed in parks near a church or a monastery. If a calvary was established in an inhabited place, it might result in a location of a new village or town. Several villages and towns are named after such a structure since it.

Calvaries in the world

Austria

Czech Republic

Cvikov

Ethiopia

Lalibela

Italy

Lithuania

Poland

Slovakia

References

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