Photo: Januszk57 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Muzeum Parafialne im. Stróżów Bożego Grobu w Chełmie

A parish museum in Chełm devoted to the Holy Sepulchre canons (bożogrobcy), with 17th-century choir stalls, chasubles, chronicles and memorabilia of John Paul II.

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About the museum

The museum is located at the church complex of the parish of the Nativity of St John the Baptist in Chełm, which was built by the Order of the Holy Sepulchre (bożogrobcy), whose members came here in the 12th century. In 1971 the new parish priest, Father Antoni Tworek, found works of art left by the friars in the sacristy. In 1999, on the occasion of the 900th anniversary of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and the 650th anniversary of its presence in Chełm, he opened the museum, supported by Jan Flasza, curator of the Stanisław Fischer Museum in Bochnia. For many years the curator and caretaker of the institution was its founder, who died in 2020. At the time of his death it was the first museum in Poland devoted to the Holy Sepulchre canons.

The museum is a branch of the Muzeum Diecezjalne w Tarnowie (Diocesan Museum in Tarnów). The collections are displayed in two rooms in the parish building and in the historic 18th-century bell tower. Visitors can see, among other things, 17th-century choir stalls of the canons, an oak statue of St John of Nepomuk from 1751, a 17th- and 18th-century monstrance and pyx, 18th-century chasubles, parish chronicles going back to the 15th century, and old missals. Part of the exhibition is devoted to Pope John Paul II. The museum lies on the historic Via Regia Antiqua route.

Highlights

17th-century choir stalls of the Holy Sepulchre canons
Oak statue of St John of Nepomuk from 1751
Monstrance and pyx from the 17th and 18th centuries
18th-century chasubles and old missals
Parish chronicles going back to the 15th century