Former Hygienic Dairy

In this flat, I saw Mr Karol Wojtyła also in the kitchen - the breakfast and supper was prepared by the father, but they ate dinners in an eatery on the other side of the same Kościelna Street - and I also saw him mending his son's and his own socks. I used to see him sometimes when he was working on altering his still decent uniforms into the so-called homewear for his son.

Zbigniew Siłkowski - middle school colleague

After Emilia's death, Karol Wojtyła Senior and his younger son lived a very modest life. The father of the future Pope was a military man, so you could feel some kind of discipline at home. Every day was well planned. Time during the day was divided into study, walk, meal and prayer. Karol's father took him to the nearby “Hygienic Dairy” to have dinner. It was an eatery run by Maria and Alojzy Banaś. At that time, they ate traditional Wadowice specialities such as tripe, and they both were especially fond of  the ruthenian dumplings (with cheese and potato). It is said that in a dairy on the ground floor on the right, an event occurred that could have changed the life of the future Pope forever. One day, Lolek, sent by his father to the Banaś dairy, came across his schoolmate and the son of the owners - Jan. He showed an officer's weapon to Karol, which was kept in the eatery as a deposit, and pointed it at his colleague as a joke, saying: ‘Hands up or I'll shoot!’. Unfortunately, the weapon had actually fired, and the bullet missed Lolek's head by the skin of his teeth.

Kościelna Street, where apart from the tenement house of Bałamuth and the Banaś Hygienic Dairy, there was also a town parish church, often witnessed the first football matches. Lolek, being a goalkeeper, was eager to throw himself at every ball. Once one of the players kicked the ball so hard that it hit the church window breaking the glass. An irritated priest went out and yelled at the young, avid footballers and that's how the street game ended.

Kościelna Street was also a meeting place for the neighbours. Emilia Wojtyła and her sons used to come to the garden on the other side of the street (next to the eatery), which still exists today, where she eagerly talked to her neighbours at the well. In their memories, she remained as a very liked, cheerful and extremely pious person.  She often asked her neighbour, Helena Szczepańska, to watch Loluś, because she had to watch dinner or go out for errands. Then, Mrs. Helena would come down and wheeled her son: ‘I was thinking, what would become of this baby? They all waited on his hand and foot as if he were a prince.’

As in the past, Kościelna Street is a meeting place for both residents and tourists visiting Wadowice. The building of the former dairy houses the Town Museum and the Tourist Information Centre.