The metal cross atop Giewont, the Tatra range's most fabled peak, beamed though the darkness this weekend after a bold group of mourners scaled the mountain in a tribute to Pope John Paul II.
Having climbed the mountain, the intrepid mourners attached a series of lights to the fifteen metre high cross, which was originally erected in 1901.
The metal parts that make up the construction were originally lugged up by a group of Highlanders as a devotional gesture, and the cross is adorned with the simple tribute: 'To Jesus Christ, from the Highlanders of Zakopane.'
Pope John Paul himself maintained a lifelong love of the region, and when he visited Zakopane in 1997 he made a spirited reference to the cross. 'I thank God for the people who took that cross to the peak of the mountain,' he proclaimed after a mass at the foot of Giewont in 1997. ' That cross looks out on the whole of Poland, from the Tatras to the Baltic. That cross speaks to us saying, 'Lift up your hearts!' I pray that all of Poland will look toward that cross and hear that invitation. 'Let us lift up our hearts!'
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