The Polish connection to Kahlenberg Hill in Vienna is linked to Mikołaj Wolski, Crown Court Marshal to Sigismund III. He founded the first Camaldolese monastery in Poland in 1605 in Bielany, now within the boundaries of Kraków. It is one of the most distinguished Polish monastic complexes of the Baroque era. The regularly spaced cottages – for this is what a Camaldolese monastery looks like, where each monk lives in his own cottage and must tend to his own garden – are situated on the hill, though the monumental structure of the three-towered church towers above it all.

The Camaldolese Hermitage on Kahlenberg Hill

The Camaldolese settlement on Kahlenberg owes its foundation to the initiative of Crown Marshal Mikołaj Wolski and his financial support. Wolski, who was deeply devoted to the Camaldolese, was a friend of the Habsburgs. He spent almost 10 years at the Prague court of Rudolf II as his cupbearer. It was Wolski who persuaded Rudolf II’s successor, Emperor Ferdinand II, to found a hermitage on Kahlenberg hill, now in Vienna, in 1627.

He did this so that the Polish Camaldolese, who – in accordance with their monastic rules – travelled once every four years to the General Congregation at Monte Corona, near Perugia, could stop to rest at their home monastery after their long journey.

Bielany and Rytwiany as models for the hermitage on Kahlenberg

To encourage Emperor Ferdinand II to make the endowment, Mikołaj Wolski sent him painted views of Camaldolese hermitages produced by the prior of the Camaldolese in Rytwiany (near Sandomierz), Father Wenanty de Subiaco. Moreover, he himself contributed to the imperial foundation from his own coffers. Hence, in the monastic rules published in 1670, Vienna is mentioned alongside Poland. The hermitage on Kahlenberg thus belonged at that time to the group of Polish monasteries!

This design was undoubtedly realised under the influence of the spatial layout of the Bielany and Rytwiany districts in Kraków. After all, the commissioner for the construction works there was Father Silvano Boselli, the first prior of the hermitage in Rytwiany.

Kahlenberg Hill and the Battle of Vienna

Kahlenberg and the Camaldolese hermitage of that time were linked for many years to the Polish province of that order. It is therefore no coincidence that King John III Sobieski celebrated Mass in the church there prior to the victorious Battle of Vienna against the Turkish army on 12 September 1683. The Polish army, whilst preparing for the attack, took up positions on the slopes of the hills covered by the Vienna Forest, which surrounded the city from the north-west at that time. On that day, at four o’clock in the morning, the king attended Mass, celebrated on the ruins of St Joseph’s Church, which had been destroyed by the Turks. What happened next is common knowledge.

Polish traces on the Kahlenberg

Later times were not kind to the monks there. The monastery was dissolved under the Josephine reforms in 1782. The church fell into ruin, and the buildings of the hermitage were eventually demolished. Only a few of the monks’ cottages remained, though almost all had been converted. In 1906, the little church was taken over by Polish Resurrectionist priests. Its reconstruction lasted until 1912, and its current form differs from its original appearance.

In 1930, the eminent religious painter Jan Henryk Rosen painted a series of works dedicated to the Victory of Vienna in one of the side chapels, dedicated to the Guardian Angels. They depict figures associated with this event, including Pope Innocent XI, King John III, Duke Charles of Lorraine, as well as the patron saints: St Joseph (patron saint of the church), St Leopold (patron saint of Austria) and St Capistrano (patron saint of the Crusades). The paintings delight with their perfect combination of draftsmanship and exquisite colouring, as well as the dignity they exude.

The Chapel of John III Sobieski on Kahlenberg

When visiting Vienna and the little church on Kahlenberg hill, which offers a beautiful view of the Austrian capital, it is worth remembering not only King John III Sobieski and his victory, but also of that now-invisible material aspect of history linked to the Polish Camaldolese monks from Bielany, near Kraków.