Vyborg Old Cathedral is the oldest building in Vyborg, but today only some parts of its walls and the tower remain. The parish of Vyborg was established during the third crusade around the year 1293. There were several wooden churches the last one was destroyed by Novgorodians in 1411.
The construction of stone-made cathedral was began in 1430s and in was completed around 1445. The medieval appearance is unknown, because parts of the cathedral have been changed and demolished several times. The original nave was probably about 37m long and 20m wide. In addition to the main altar there were also few side altars. Unfortunately the interior is completely disappeared or destroyed in wars and reconstructions.
Some notable persons has been buried to the church like nobleman Erik Axelsson Tott and probably Mikael Agricola, the founder of written Finish language.
During the centuries the Vyborg cathedral was first Catholic, then Lutheran and during the Russian order also an Orthodox church. Peter the Great ordered to renovate it for Orthodox worships in 1720. In 1805 it was remodified as a magazine. In 1913 the cathedral was again restored and after the Independence of Finland it was moved once again Lutheran church. In the Winter War (1940) the aerial bomb hit the church and only walls survived.
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 the Bishop of Kraków. Since there is no conclusive evidence to support the foundation date as 1040, some historians claim that the abbey was founded by Casimir the Restorer’ son, King Boleslaw II the Generous.
In the second half of the 11th century, a complex of Romanesque buildings was completed, consisting of a basilica and the abbey. In the 14th century, it was destroyed in Tatar and Czech raids, and in the 15th century it was rebuilt in Gothic style. Further remodelings took place in the 17th and 18th centuries, first in Baroque, then in Rococo style. The abbey was partly destroyed in the Swedish invasion of Poland, and soon afterwards was rebuilt, with a new library. Further destruction took place during the Bar Confederation, when Polish rebels turned the abbey into their fortress.
In 1816, Austrian authorities liquidated the abbey, and in 1821-1826, it was the seat of the Bishop of Tyniec, Grzegorz Tomasz Ziegler. The monks, however, did not return to the abbey until 1939, and in 1947, remodelling of the neglected complex was initiated. In 1968, the Church of St. Peter and Paul was once again named the seat of the abbot. The church itself consists of a Gothic presbytery and a Baroque main nave. Several altars were created by an 18th-century Italian sculptor Francesco Placidi. The church also has a late Baroque pulpit by Franciszek Jozef Mangoldt.