John Paul II House in Lednica
Before the second anniversary of the death of the Holy Father John Paul II the Dominican Academic Centre at the Lednickie Lake will open John Paul II House. The most important part of the house is the chapel on the first floor. Among other things there will be the armchair in which John Paul II sat during the important visit to the Polish Parliament in 1999 and the papal cassock and his personal objects, including his towel and handkerchief.
'Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz confirmed the authenticity of all the exhibits and souvenirs connected with the Holy Father', says Fr Jan Gora, OP, the creator of John Paul II House. The room will have oak floor from the bishops' residence in Krakow, at 3 Franciszkanska Street, where Cardinal Karol Wojtyla had lived before he became Pope. Several months ago Fr Gora received 100 square meters of the oak parquet from the Krakow curia after the place had been renovated.
One cannot enter the room but only look through the windows. The ground floor will have a kitchen and a dining room where visitors can eat local bread, baked according to the old Polish recipe, and taste local soup.
The tickets to enter John Paul II House will be special red slippers, having the shape of the Holy Father's moccasins, sold for a symbolic price. One can take these slippers home. 'They are to remind people of the paths of John Paul II', Fr Gora explains.
For 10 years John Paul II used to prepare a special message to the youth that gathered every year in Lednica. Pope Benedict XVI has continued this tradition since John Paul II's death.
"Niedziela" 9/2007