Porta Santa
On December 24, 1999, the Holy Father opened the Holy Door in St. Peter's Basilica, inaugurating the Jubilee Year for the 2000 anniversary of the Jesus Christ birth. What does the door, which is a symbolic gateway to gaining a special indulgence, look like? On a daily basis, a copy of them - weighing a bagatelle 800 kilograms - can be seen and even touched in our Museum. Slightly scaled down from the original, they are the work of Italian craftsmen from Albano. Before they arrived in Wadowice, they were blessed in Rome by Pope Benedict XVI.
"Do not be afraid, open the door to Christ."
On one side are 16 bas-reliefs with biblical scenes and the coats of arms of the popes who have opened the Holy Door since the Middle Ages. While the Vatican ones are plain on one side, which is due to their closing after the jubilee, the museum ones contain the motto of John Paul II's pontificate, "Do not be afraid, open the door to Christ," written in 10 languages. The doors are ajar, as if stopped at the moment they are opened. Looking through them, we see a photograph of the Holy Father himself when he opened the holy door for the second time during his pontificate on December 24, 1999, marking the beginning of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000.
