Vienna is one of those European cities that is linked to Poland by a variety of historical events and personalities. In the 17th century there was a Camaldolese hermitage on Kahlenberg Hill, which owed its foundation to the initiative and finances of the Polish Crown Marshal Mikołaj Wolski.

Polish traces on Kahlenberg Hill in Vienna are associated with the Crown Marshal of Sigismund III Nicholas Wolski. He was the founder of the first Camaldolese monastery in Poland in 1605 in Bielany, today within the borders of Krakow. It is one of the most outstanding Polish monastic foundations of the Baroque era. The regularly spaced houses - because this is what a Camaldolese monastery looks like, with each monk living in his own house and having to look after his own garden - are located on a hill, with the monumental body of a three-towered church towering over everything.

Camaldolese hermitage on Kahlenberg
The Camaldolese hermitage on Kahlenberg owes its foundation to the initiative of Crown Marshal Mikolaj Wolski and his financial support. Wolski, very dedicated to the Camaldolese monks, was a friend of the Habsburgs. He spent almost 10 years at the Prague court of Rudolf II as his chamberlain. It was Wolski who persuaded Rudolf II's successor, Emperor Ferdinand II, to found a hermitage on Kahlenberg Hill, today in Vienna, in 1627.

He did this so that the Polish Camaldolese monks, who - in accordance with the monastic rules - travelled once every four years for a general congregation to Monte Corona, near Perugia, could stop for a rest at their native monastery after a long journey.

Bielany and Rytwiany model for the hermitage at Kahlenberg
In order to encourage Emperor Ferdinand II to found the monastery, Mikołaj Wolski sent him painted views of Camaldolese hermitages made by the prior of the Camaldolese monks in Rytwiany (near Sandomierz), Father Wenante de Subiaco. In addition, he himself supported the imperial foundation from his coffers. Hence, in the monastic rules published in 1670, Vienna is mentioned together with Poland. At that time, the Kahlenberg Hermitage belonged to the group of Polish monasteries!

This assumption was undoubtedly made under the influence of the spatial planning of the Krakow Bielany and Rytwiana. After all, the commissioner of the building work there was Fr Silvano Boselli, the first prior of the Rytwiany hermitage.

Kahlenberg Hill and the relief of Vienna
Kahlenberg and the then Camaldolese hermitage were for many years connected with the Polish province of the order. It is therefore no coincidence that King John III Sobieski celebrated mass in the church there before the victorious battle of Vienna against the Turkish army on 12 September 1683. On that day, at four o'clock in the morning, the king attended mass, celebrated on the ruins of St Joseph's Church, destroyed by the Turks. What followed is widely known.

Polish traces on Kahlenberg
Later times were not kind to the monks there. The monastery was abolished by the Josephine reform in 1782, the church fell into disrepair and the hermitage buildings were demolished over time. Only a few of the monks' cottages remained, but almost all of them converted. In 1906, the church was taken over by the Polish Resurrectionist priests. Its reconstruction continued until 1912, and its present form differs from its original appearance.

In 1930, the eminent religious painter Jan Henryk Rosen painted a series of paintings in one of the side chapels, the Guardian Angels, dedicated to the Vienna Victory. 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 impress with a perfect combination of drawing, sophisticated colouring and eminence.

Chapel of John III Sobieski on the Kalenberg
When visiting Vienna and the small church on the 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 this now invisible material part of history connected with the Polish Camaldolese monks from Bielany near Krakow.