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Cistercian Monastery in Koprzywnica



Located in the valley of the Koprzywianka River, it gained fame by Cistercians who resided here once. Their abbey was founded in the first half of the 13th century by Mikołaj Bogoria in times of Casimir the Great.

History was not kind to Koprzywnica, so the Church and the monastery complex bear the marks of numerous reconstructions and renovations carried out in line with the later architectural styles.
Romanesque Church built of stone has built Gothic tops made of brick and vesrty, chapel, the western facade with a porch and bell tower added in the Baroque period. The cross-ribbed vaulting and Gothic paintings are very impressively presented throughout the Church. The Romanesque chapter house with a cross-ribbed vaulting is particularly noteworthy in the monastery. Vaulting ribs run down to columns and wall brackets in the middle of the hall. The chapter house holds a lapidary. The end of Cistercians in Koprzywica was due to dissolution of the monastery in 1819. Since 1821, it has remained a parish Church. Next to the Church and the monastery there is a former prior house founded by abbot Zbigniew Ossoliński in 1615-1620. Traditionally it is known under the name of the abbot manor.
Around Koprzywnica in pre-Christian times there was a very strong centre of fire worship. Now, on the site of the pagan temple there is a spectacle of "light and sound", i.e. performances of the local fire department. Each firefighter, led in procession by the pastor, spits out kerosene towards the burning torch, which makes a few feet long pillar of fire. This happens at night, on Holy Saturday, after the resurrection (not like in the Catholic rite on Sunday).

localization-imgLocation Map


Krakowska street 76
27-600 Koprzywnica
State: ŚWIĘTOKRZYSKIE
Latitude and Longitude: 50.5984937951611,21.5884780883789