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 Thingstätte (Amphitheatre) and a mausoleum. The theatre remains, but the Nazi mausoleum was destroyed and replaced with a monument to those who took part in the Third Silesian Uprising.

The hill was a pagan shrine in pre-Christian times. Around 1100 a wooden chapel to was built on the hill. In 1516 the noble family of von Gaschin erected a church dedicated to St. Anne. The hill became a popular pilgrimage destination, especially after the donation in 1560 of a wooden statue of St. Anne, containing relics, which is still in the church today.

Count Melchior Ferdinand von Gaschin wanted to make the hill the seat of Franciscans, and during the Swedish-Polish War, the order decided to close its houses in Kraków and Lwów and move to Silesia for safety, and an agreement was made under which they would take over the church on the Annaberg. 22 Franciscans moved there in 1655. The count had a simple wooden monastery building built and replaced the church with a new stone building which was dedicated in 1673.

Address
Klasztorna 6, Góra Świętej Anny, Poland

Established
16th century