Historia ołtarza papieskiego w Nowym Targu

History of the Papal Altar in Nowy Targ

Summary: On April 1, 1979, the pastor (Fr. Franciszek Juraszek) and the parishioners of the Most Holy Heart of Jesus Christ parish in the city of Nowy Targ were assigned the task of preparing the city for the Holy Father's visit on June 8th, 1979.
In addition to spiritual preparation, the site of the celebration had to be chosen and approved by local authorities. At first, the national government and the provincial government did not want to issue a permit for the proposed celebration sites: 1) the airport, 2) the Church of the Most Holy Heart of Jesus Christ. It was not until May 15th, that Governor Lech Bafia agreed to permit the organization of a Papal celebration at the local airport as well as a meeting with Cardinal Franciszek Macharski and a group of Church authorities.
The Communist government sent security forces to attempt to block the people of the Podhale region from meeting the Holy Father, and when that failed, made attempts to make reaching the celebration site difficult. The large scale operation was code-named "Summer 79" by the security forces.
Fr. Juraszek, the person in charge of the construction of the Papal Altar, delegated the design of the altar and supervision of the construction work to an architect named Tadeusz Jędrysko. A number of designs were proposed, and at the end of April, the Archdiocese of Kraków selected a wooden construction design. The work on the construction of the altar started on May 20th.
The location and construction of each section of the altar were supervised by Fr. Jan Łasut from Poronin. Construction materials were brought in by local highlanders who also helped with the construction work. Volunteers from local parishes were also on-site doing their part to help build the altar. Altogether, 50-60 people worked on the altar.
Despite the fact that the altar was built on schedule and completed on May 22nd, the designated completion date, and technical documents had been delivered to local authorities, they still did not issue a final approval for the finished structure. Construction data was not fully reviewed and a lightning protection system was not installed. Government engineers did not perform a technical assessment of the structure until a few hours before the main celebration.
Between 700,000 and 1,000,000 people took part in the meeting with the Holy Father. A celebration of Mass was followed by a major downpour during which a powerful tracked crane emerged from the woods and with the aid of a brigade of government volunteers, the altar was brutally demolished. People who had attended the Mass attempted to save anything possible including the papal chair, a cross from atop the altar, decorative moldings stripped from the front beams, the statue podium, stairways, and the pulpit of the Liturgy of the Word. These pieces can now be found in the Church of the Most Holy Heart of Jesus Christ in Nowy Targ. The mensa or the table on which the Eucharist had been celebrated was saved from destruction by highlanders from the town of Gliczarów Górny.

Peregrinus Cracoviensis, 2009, z. 20, s. 135-146.

Instytut Geografii i Gospodarki Przestrzennej UJ

ISSN 1425-1922

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