Monasteries in Poland
Jasna Góra Monastery
The Jasna Góra Monastery is the most famous Polish shrine to the Virgin Mary and the country"s greatest place of pilgrimage – for many its spiritual capital. The image of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa, also known as Our Lady of Częstochowa, to which miraculous powers are attributed, is Jasna Góra"s most precious treasure. The site is one of Poland"s official national Histori ...Tyniec Abbey
Tyniec Benedictine abbey was founded by King Casimir the Restorer probably around 1044. Casimir decided to rebuild the newly established Kingdom of Poland, after a Pagan rebellion and a disastrous Czech raid of Duke Bretislaus I (1039). The Benedictines, invited to Tyniec by the King, were tasked with restoring order as well as cementing the position of the State and the Church. First Tyniec Abbot was Aaron, who became th ...Trzebnica Abbey
Sanctuary of St. Jadwiga, also Trzebnica Abbey, is a convent for Cistercian nuns founded in 1203. The abbey was established by the Silesian Piast duke Henry I the Bearded and his wife Saint Hedwig of Andechs, confirmed by Pope Innocent III. With Hedwig"s consent, her brother Ekbert of Andechs, then Bishop of Bamberg, chose the first nuns that occupied the convent. The first abbess was Petrussa from Kitzingen Abbey; s ...Kalwaria Zebrzydowska Park
Kalwaria Zebrzydowska park is a Mannerist architectural and park landscape complex and pilgrimage park, built in the 17th century as the Counter Reformation in the late 16th century led to prosperity in the creation of Calvaries in Catholic Europe. The park was added in 1999 to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. This extraordinary testimony of piety and culture was the first of the large-scale Calvaries built in ...Pelplin Abbey
Pelplin Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey founded in 1258 by Sambor II, Duke of Pomerania. It was a daughter house of the Cistercian Doberan Abbey. It was first sited in Pogódki (Pogutken) near Kościerzyna (Berent) and re-located in 1276 to Pelplin. By decree of the Prussian government of 5 March 1823 it was dissolved. Since 1824 the church, as Pelpin Cathedral, has been the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of P ...Lubiaz Abbey
Lubiąż Abbey, also commonly known as Leubus Abbey, is a former Cistercian monastery. The abbey, established in 1175, is one of the largest Christian architectural complexes in the world and is considered a masterpiece of Baroque Silesian architecture. The abbey is situated near a ford across the Oder river, where a Benedictine monastery and church of Saint James may have been established about 1150, but had already bee ...Gora Swietej Anny
Góra Świętej Anny or St. Annaberg is the location of the Franciscan monastery with the miraculous statue of St. Anne and the imposing calvary, which is an important destination for Roman Catholic pilgrimage. It has been a strategic location important to both German and Polish nationalists, and in 1921 it was the site of the Battle of Annaberg, commemorated in the Third Reich by the construction of a Thingst ...Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Krzeszów is a Roman Catholic church and abbey of the Order of Saint Benedict in Krzeszów, Lower Silesian Voivodeship. Built around 1728-1735, it is a notable baroque church in Silesia, with the art of Ferdinand Brokoff (sculptor) and Michael Willmann (painter). It is also one of the shrines to the Virgin Mary, with a 13th old painting. In one of the ...Mogila Abbey
Mogiła Abbey is a Cistercian monastery founded in 1222 by the Bishop of Kraków, Iwo Odrowąż. It was the largest and most impressive church in medieval Poland after Wawel Cathedral, and served as the Odrowąż family"s burial place until the 16th century. The monastic community, consisting of the 13 professed monks mandatory for an independent monastery, moved in around 1225, although th ...Camaldolese Hermit Monastery
The Camaldolese monastery in Bielany was established there in the first half of the 17th century, damaged in 1655 during the Polish-Swedish war and rebuilt after a fire in 1814. It consists of hermitages and the Assumption of Mary Church.Sulejów Abbey
Sulejów Abbey was a Cistercian abbey founded in 1176 by the duke Kazimierz II the Just. The town of Sulejów grew up round it. The most notable parts of the abbey are the Romanesque church of Saint Thomas Becket of Canterbury and Romanesque fortifications which stopped the Mongol Hordes in the 13th century. The monastery was dissolved in 1810. After many years of industrial and business use the surviving buildings are n ...Jedrzejów Abbey
Jędrzejów Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey founded in 1140. The convent, under the lead of Fr. Nicholas, came to these lands in 1114 from the Morimond Abbey in Champagne. The consecration act from 1149 elevated the monastery to a rank of an abbey and king Bolesław IV the Curly gave it a foundation privilege which exempted it from ducal tributes and charges. The ceremony of consecrating the new church an ...St. Jadwiga's Basilica
St. Jadwiga"s Basilica was erected in 1723-1738. The church hosts the Parish of the Holy Cross and St. Jadwiga and is the central element of the there founded Monastery of the Order of Saint Benedict.Ruins of the Monastery of the Discalced Carmelites
In the village Zagorz on a picturesque hill called Marymont there are the impressive ruins of the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites - one of the most interesting architectural buildings in this part of Poland shrouded in many legends. The ruins of the monastery of Fr. Discalced Carmelites from the eighteenth century. The ruins are situated on a picturesque hill on three sides surrounded by the waters of the Osława R ...Camaldolese Monastery
Camaldolese monastery was built in 1747-1781 (consecrated in 1791). The monastery has an old Baroque style architecture, its interiors remain somewhat raw. Most of original equipment was damaged. The main altar is quite unique - in Rococo style. Frescos which come from the time of the monastery’s construction are very precious. There are relics of Five Martyr Brothers in the Church.Szczyrzyc Abbey
Szczyrzyc Cistercian Abbey was founded in 1234. The founder of the Abbey was Theodor, the palatine of Cracow bearing Griffin, as his coat of arms. It continues to function as a monastery and is one of the Polish Shrines to the Virgin Mary.Kolbacz Abbey
The Kołbacz Abbey was a Cistercian monastery founded in 1173 with the original Latin name 'Mera Vallis'. The monks were invited into Pomerania by Warcisław II Świętoborzyc, a castellan of Szczecin, as part of an agreement with Valdemar I of Denmark, who had besieged Szczecin and made Warcisław his vassal. The first monks originally arrived from the Danish Esrum Abbey. The foundation was ...Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings
Historic Site of the week
Walled city of Jajce
The Walled City of Jajce is a medieval fortified nucleus of Jajce in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with citadel high above town on top of pyramidal-shaped steep hill, enclosed with approximately 1,300 metres long defensive walls,. It is one of the best preserved fortified capitals of the Bosnian Kingdom, the last stronghold before the kingdom dissolved under the pressure of military advancement at the onset of Ottoman Empire takeover.
The entire complex of the Walled city of Jajce, with the citadel, city ramparts, watchtower Medvjed-kula, and two main city gate-towers lies on the southern slope of a large rocky pyramid at the confluence of the rivers Pliva and Vrbas, enclosed by these rivers from the south-southwest, with the bed of the Pliva, and east-southeast by the river Vrbas gorge.
History
The fortress was built by Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić, the founder of Jajce. However, the city became the seat of the Bosnian kings, hence the royal coat of arms decoration on the citadel entrance. A part of the wall was built by the Hungarian King, while the Ottomans erected the powder magazine. The walls are high and the castle was built on a hill that is egg shaped, the rivers Pliva and Vrbas also protect the castle. There is no rampart on the south and west.
Jajce was first built in the 14th century and served as the capital of the independent Kingdom of Bosnia during its time. The town has gates as fortifications, as well as a castle with walls which lead to the various gates around the town. About 10–20 kilometres from Jajce lies the Komotin Castle and town area which is older but smaller than Jajce. It is believed the town of Jajce was previously Komotin but was moved after the Black Death.
The first reference to the name of Jajce in written sources is from the year 1396, but the fortress had already existed by then. Jajce was the residence of the last Bosnian king Stjepan Tomasevic; the Ottomans besieged the town and executed him, but held it only for six months, before the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus seized it at the siege of Jajce and established the Banovina of Jajce.
Skenderbeg Mihajlović besieged Jajce in 1501, but without success because he was defeated by Ivaniš Korvin assisted by Zrinski, Frankopan, Karlović and Cubor.
During this period, Queen Catherine restored the Saint Mary"s Church in Jajce, today the oldest church in town. Eventually, in 1527, Jajce became the last Bosnian town to fall to Ottoman rule. The town then lost its strategic importance, as the border moved further north and west.
Jajce passed with the rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina under the administration of Austria-Hungary in 1878. The Franciscan monastery of Saint Luke was completed in 1885.
Surroundings
The Walled city of Jajce is located at the confluence of the Pliva and Vrbas rivers. It was founded and started developing in the Middle Ages and acquired its final form during the Ottoman period. There are several churches and mosques built in different times during different rules, making Jajce a rather diverse town in this aspect. It is declared National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and, as the old Jajce city core, including the waterfall, and other individual sites outside the walled city perimeter, such as the Jajce Mithraeum, it is designated as The natural and architectural ensemble of Jajce and proposed as such for inscription into the UNESCO"s World Heritage Site list. The bid for inscription is currently placed on the UNESCO Tentative list.