Krzeszow Abbey

Krzeszow is the high point of Silesian baroque: two churches side by side in a valley, the abbey church of the Assumption finished in 1735 with a curving twin-towered front, and the smaller church of St Joseph next to it whose walls and vaults were painted through by Michael Willmann in the 1690s in a cycle that is his major surviving work. Behind the high altar of the main church is the Piast mausoleum, holding the tombs of Bolko I and Bolko II, dukes of Swidnica-Jawor, the last independent Piast rulers in Silesia. The abbey's devotional focus is the Krzeszow Virgin, a painted panel dated to about 1220 and among the oldest surviving painted images in Poland, crowned in 1997. Around the buildings runs a Calvary of chapels through the fields. The organ, the frescoes and the acoustics bring concerts here in summer.

History

Duchess Anna of Bohemia founded the monastery on 8 May 1242 with Benedictines from Opatovice, and in 1289 her grandson Bolko I of Świdnica gave it to the Cistercians, who ran it until 1810. It suffered in the Hussite Wars and the Thirty Years' War and was rebuilt each time, and from 1728 the abbey church was rebuilt in baroque style, with sculpture by Ferdinand Brokoff and paintings by Petr Brandl and Michael Willmann; since 1947 it has been home to Polish Benedictine nuns (Wikipedia, Krzeszów Abbey).

What's there

• Two baroque churches - the Assumption of 1735 and St Joseph's beside it.
• Willmann's fresco cycle - the 1690s paintings through St Joseph's.
• The Piast mausoleum - tombs of the last independent Silesian dukes.
• The Krzeszow Virgin - a painted panel of about 1220.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Before you go

Visits are guided and the two churches are usually one route with set times. Services close the churches to visitors. The village is small with limited food. Interiors are dim - the frescoes reward a clear day.

Nearby

Kamienna Gora is eight kilometres north; the Karkonosze are west.

Key facts