<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Gd%C3%B3w" class="extiw" title="w:en:Gdów">Gdów</a> Cemetery Chapel Altar (1844), with sculpture (rising Polish Eagle) and painting (Mother Mary comforting 'imaginary' Jesus before his resurrection, portrayed by the 'Crown of Thorns' in her hand) perhaps reflecting aspirations at the time for a free and independent Poland. From the writing on a panel beneath the Altar, the painting was dedicated to the Chapel by Canon Dean Father Kusionowicz in 1873 and restored in 1991.
<p>Ks Ludwik Kusionowicz (1816-1888) chronicled the historic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Battle_of_Gd%C3%B3w" class="extiw" title="w:en:Battle of Gdów">Battle of Gdów</a> which took place in 1846 (in the field next to Gdów Cemetery) and in which Polish 'insurgents', under the command of the absent Colonel Suchorzewski, fought for independence from Austria in the only battle of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Krak%C3%B3w_Uprising" class="extiw" title="w:en:Kraków Uprising">Kraków Uprising</a>.  Ludwik, the parish priest in Gdów from 1842 to 1888,  provided refuge in the Gdów Church for supporters of the Polish nationalists who were fleeing the Austrian military and their peasant militia.
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Ludwik was born in Czchów on 3 August 1816 to parents Izydor and Marianna (nee Karnikiewicz) and after studying theology in Vienna was ordained as a priest in Tarnów in 1840, by Bishop F Zachariasiewicz, before being appointed the parish priest in Gdów on 6 June 1842. With the financial support of Eleonora Fihauser (1777-1850), heiress of Fałkowice Manor, Ludwik expanded the Gdów Church by extending the presbytery and building a new sacristy and hexagonal chapel. On 12 September 1865 Ludwik was appointed state school inspector for the Deanery of Wieliczka before his later appointment as Dean of Wieliczka and on 26 July 1871 he was awarded the honorary title of Canon of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Tarn%C3%B3w" class="extiw" title="w:en:Tarnów">Tarnów</a>.  Ludwik, who was also a founder of the Temperance Brotherhood, continued to serve as the Gdów parish priest until his passing on 27 December 1888.  Prior to the famous battle of 1846, Ludwik, again with the support of Eleonora Fihauser, had had an impressive Chapel built in the local cemetery and on his passing he was laid to rest underneath this Chapel beside which rests Sylwester (1828-1877) in a prominent grave watched over by a beautiful statue of Mary sculpted by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pl:Edward_Stehlik" class="extiw" title="w:pl:Edward Stehlik">Edward Stehlik (pl)</a>.<br><span style="color:blue;"><i>The <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Scotch_Mist/Poland" class="mw-redirect" title="User:Scotch Mist/Poland">Scotch Mist Gallery</a> contains many photographs of historic buildings, monuments and memorials of Poland.</i></span>
<bdi><a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:19th-century_portrait_paintings_of_men,_artist,_location_and_year_missing" title="Category:19th-century portrait paintings of men, artist, location and year missing">Unidentified painter</a>
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CC BY-SA 4.0
<a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Scotch_Mist" title="User:Scotch Mist">Scotch Mist</a>