Woman of the Apocalypse
Votive offerings became a tradition. They are usually small silver objects (hearts, crucifixes, figures of praying people, images of cured eyes, legs, arms). Several times (1799, 1808, 1810) some of these objects were taken down and melted into liturgical objects. In 1844 there was a total of 785 offerings. Twelve years later, in 1856, the number had almost doubled to 1,438. From 1884 to 1927 a journal of new offerings was kept. During that time 2,539 new gifts were registered. Currently, there are about 8,000 silver votive objects in the chapel. The large crescent moon located right beneath "Our Lady" is also a votive offering. Its origins are unknown but it bears an inscription in Polish and a date of 1849. The crescent goes well with the silver cloth, adding additional parallels with the Woman of the Apocalypse, described in the Book of Revelation as "a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars".