365 ways to die at the church in Sadomierz

The town of Sadomierz is home to a large gothic cathedral. The original parts of the church were built in 1360 but it was renovated in 1818 in a baroque style during which time the town church was upgraded to become a cathedral.

The church is a large building which in itself could make it an attraction – but what is the large drawcard for the cathedral is the many paintings which is decorating all the walls of the church.

There is a painting for each month – so a total of 12 large paintings in this series – these paintings consist of a series of people who die. There is actually a way to die for each of the people for each day of the year – according to this concept you can go to this church and then find your birthday if you want to know just how you will die. There doesn’t seem to be any good way to die so expect to die in some horrific way.

The paintings are very dark so it is actually a bit hard to clearly identify the way you are going to die – maybe that is a good thing.

On the back of the cathedral you find another sections of paintings – one of these paintings depict a very controversial scene. The murder of the Christian by Jews who would drink the blood of the Christians about 2 thousand years ago. The painting is still on the wall but they have added a small plague. It is stated that the depicted murder of the Christian is based on a legend which has no validity in any historical records – hence these paintings is a very early example of fake news. Despite the lack of proof of the story it led to prosecutions of Jews centuries later spread across Europe – also in the city of Sadomierz.

It is free to visit the church and a lot of people take advantage of this and wonder around the church to see the famous paintings. If you are close to the city it is worth heading inside the church to see these paintings. But I find the paintings rather dark and not sufficiently interesting for a longer detour.