The site locally known as Skałka, a functioning monastery and religious shrine, dates back to early days of the Polish kingdom. In 1079, King Bolesław Śmiały (Boleslaus the Bold) had Bishop Stanisław Szczepanowski, later declared a Polish patron saint, beheaded at this location next to the altar, whose tree trunk still remains. The baroque style of the church's design stems from a mid-18th-century renovation. The crypt (closed from December to February) houses the remains of several illustrious figures, including Nobel Prize-winning poet Czesław Miłosz (1911-2004).