THE POMERANIAN CISTERCIAN TRAIL
The Pomeranian Province features three main post-Cistercian complexes: Oliwa and Pelplin (male monasteries) and also Żarnowiec (female monastery). Byszewo-Koronowo (the seat of the grey monks), as well as Chełmno and Toruń (old centres of monastic life of the Cistercian nuns), are included in the administrative reaches of the Cuiavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. These centres, as well as the old Cistercian abbey complex in Bukowo (located within the area of the West Pomerania Province), have become part of the organisational and promotional activities of the Pomeranian Cistercian Trail. Pomeranian Loop of the Cistercian Trail is one of the five loops that constitute the Cistercian trail network in Poland, as well as belonging to the European Culture Trails.
The past magnificence and affluence of the mentioned Cistercian abbeys is reflected not only by the entire monastic complexes, but also by numerous smaller buildings (churches, chapels, manor houses and farm buildings) scattered around the main seats of the grey monks and nuns. All these locations constitute the cultural appeal of the Pomeranian region.
FISH AND SALT TRAIL
We will start traveling the Pomeranian Cistercian Trail from its northwestern ends - goods belonging to the former Bukowo abbey, located in today's Central Pomerania. The beginnings of the Cistercian settlement date back to the second mid-thirteenth century. Grey monks were brought to Bukowo Morskie from Dargun in Mecklenburg by Świętopełk II, Prince of Gdańsk. Between 1248 and 1253, the Cistercians accumulated vast areas of land, which they successively enlarged, settled new villages and founded parishes.
They also took up various crafts, brick manufacture and fishing. Cistercians owned numerous mills and salt-works in Kołobrzeg. They were also granted the right of ore extraction. They established many taverns and took advantage of the rights to hunt and keep forest bees. They developed the processing of timber from the forests that belonged to the monastery.
The first half of the 16th century witnessed the fall of the Bukowo monastery due to the introduction of the Reformation to the Pomerania Region. In 1535 last abbot, Henry Kress, dissolved the convent and tendered his resignation.
The parish in Iwięcino was probably founded in the 14th century, when the Cistercians erected the first wooden temple. Today the church, built of brick with embedded fieldstones, surrounded by a stone wall, is led by wooden gates. The tower and nave of the church are covered with oak shingles. The tower also features a distinctive metal rooster from 1669.
The church contains valuable interior fittings: a bell from 1417, wooden Gothic wall cupboard, a crucifix from the 15/16th centuries and a stone baptismal font. Particularly noteworthy is the polychrome on the wooden ceiling, which presents the Last Judgment (1697).
In Karnieszewice, a stone (red, roughly worked granite) stoup from the 14th century has been preserved from the time of the Cistercians, set outside at the entrance to the church on the west side. It has the form of a simplified, tapering chalice, without an isolated base.
The church in Dąbrowa has a characteristic stone-brick chancel from the second half of the 14th century, with small windows. A Gothic sandstone stoup, in the form of a simplified chalice, located in the temple's vestibule, has been preserved here from the Cistercian era.
In Bukowo Morskie we can find preserved gothic church (14th-15th century), sometimes identified with the parish church locaded beyond the territory of the old abbey. Although there is nothing left of the former monastery buildings, Communal organizers of the Cistercian route took care of information boards which remind of the culture and history of the local monks.
In the Gothic parish church of Mother of God in Dobiesław we can see a post-Cistercian granite stoup from the 15th century. It is worth to pay attention on the ornamentation of stalls from 15th-century - especially relief of Saint George fighting the dragon.
In Stary Jarosław another church from the second half of the 15th century has survived. The main part of the temple is the nave, connected to a polygonal closed chancel. The tower, which is adjacent to it on the west, has a characteristic helmet covered with wooden shingles. Inside we can find baroque works of folk art - the altar, the pulpit and the sculpture Crucifixion.
In Barzowice we can visit gothic temple of st. Francis of Assisi (14th-15th centuries). Single-bay church, with a high nave in relation to the tower, has a separate presbytery with buttresses visible on the perimeter. The original equipment has not been preserved.
The parish of Barzowice also includes the gothic temple of St. Stanislaus Kostka in Cisowo - a single-nave church with a separate three-sided chancel and a massive tower on the western side. A relic of the gray monks here is a stoup from the 14th century. Also noteworthy are the later furnishings: baroque pulpit, main altar, Renaissance pews and tombstones.
The remains of the monastic church equipment from Bukowo can be seen in the Museum of Central Pomerania in Słupsk. We will find there, among others, post - Cistercian and late - Gothic tryptych and Gothic epitaph.
NORDA - AT THE CISTERCIAN SISTERS'
Heading north-east through picturesque coastal areas we reach the former Cistercian convent in Żarnowiec, dedicated to the Mother of God and Saint Ursula. It was founded in 1235 by a Cistercian abbot in Oliwa and was largely dependent on this abbey until it was made over to the Benedictines in 1589. Many medieval privileges were also granted jointly to both monasteries. The order in Żarnowiec was home to about 30 Cistercian nuns of many nationalities.
In the 15th century the monastery owned the following: 9 villages, 3 hamlets and 2 lakes. In the 16th century it was over 200 ha of cultivated land. The nuns ran a school for girls from noble families and a hospital. The Reformation and a decreasing economy led to the downfall and depopulation of the monastery. At that time (1589) the Bishop of Włocławek, Hieronim Rozdrażewski, took the monastery out from under the authority of the Oliva Cistercians and handed it over to the Benedictines of the Chelm congregation. Of the last three Cistercian nuns, one left the order and another two were transferred to another monastery.
In Żarnowiec we can see the old, preserved monastery buildings (13/14th centuries) include Gothic cloisters (partially open to visitors), the chaplain’s house from 1404 (the present presbytery), granary and fragments of the monastery’s wall.
The monastery church was built at the end of the 13th century and expanded after 1389 on the initiative of the Oliva Cistercians. In the interior we can find post-Cistercian elements including: stellar vaults and low reliefs of Saint Catherine and the Mother of God holding the infant Jesus, two gravestones, a 14th century figurine of the Madonna holding the infant Jesus and a wooden Pieta of Żarnowiec from 1430 (placed in a specially constructed altar build in 1630). From the later furnishings, we can also see restored stalls from 1719, rococo stalls in the choir, the main altar and a baptismal font with an angel figure.
The rich treasury of the monastery (inaccessible to visitors) contains a magnificent collection of books, sumptuous crosiers, liturgical robes and embroidered sacred sculptures and ancient appliances.
Under the patronage of the Cistercians from Żarnowiec was the parish of St. Peter and Paul the Apostles in Puck. The temple was preserved in its original state from the 14th-15th c., almost intact. Renovations carried out in 1892-96 included the construction of vaults in the nave and the facing of the exterior walls. Since 2006, numerous restoration and archaeological works have been carried out in the church and its surroundings.
The old magnificence of the times when Cistercian nuns held the patronage of the church is reflected in: two Gothic bells, a late-Romanesque stone baptismal from the 13th century, candlesticks, a pacificale from the first half of the 15th century with relics of the Holy Cross and a cylindrical monstrance from the 2nd quarter of the 16th century.
Of the later furnishings, it is worth mentioning the elements in the Wejher Chapel: the Mannerist altar from 1623 with the paintings of the Crucifixion and the Entombment with the date 1623 and the signature of the painter Herman Han on the back, as well as paintings of the founders of the chapel (1597) and a Baroque epitaph with two fourfold coats of arms cartouches.
Not far from Puck, in Mechowo, we can visit the Church of St. James the Apostle and St. Nicholas (already part of the Oliwa Abbey). It was built on a hill among the trees and surrounded by a stone and brick retaining wall.
The temple was built in the Baroque style, with a timber-frame construction, with brick and plastered infill, on a foundation of hewn erratic boulders. It is a single-nave church with a separate, slightly narrower and lower chancel. On the northern side there is a sacristy. In the western bay there is a tower built in to the interior, with a porch in the ground floor. The second porch is located at the nave from the south.
The interior of the church was covered by a heavily flattened, apparent cradle vault. The chancel arch has a chamfered beam on two decorative brackets and a mid-18th-century Baroque crucifix.
We will find there post-Cistercian furnishings like the High Altar (moved from the church in Oliwa around 1640) along with the painting of the Coronation of the Holy Virgin Mary, two side altars from around the middle of the 18th century, an early-Baroque altar, a wooden Baroque baptismal font from the 18th century with a figure of St. John the Baptist and a baroque pulpit (mid- 18th century) with portrays of the four Evangelists.
Another parish connected with former Oliwa abbey can be found in Starzyno. It served as a place of convalescence for sick monks and also as the summer residence of the Abbots of Oliwa.
The first wooden church of St. John the Baptist was first mentioned in 1583. The present church of St Michael the Archangel was built in the years 1648-49, with the foundation of Aleksander Kęsowski, Abbot of Oliwa. It was situated on a small hill and surrounded by a retaining wall of hewn stones. The body of the building consists of a three-bay rectangular nave and a separate, trilaterally closed presbytery. Traditionally, there is a tower on the west side.
The original Baroque furnishings and the outstanding liturgical vestments have been preserved. In the interior we can see many post-Cistercian elements: the high altar from the time of the church's construction (dedicated to the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Mary and St Michael the Archangel), which bears the founder's signature, numerous side altars and a classicist tabernacle (from the end of the 18th century). The chancel wall on the side of the nave has a polychrome scene of the Last Judgement.
From the 12th century to the year 1772 Cistercians from Oliwa owned a manor farm called Starzyński Dwór. In the 15th century, the monks had there their own ship and landing stage, as well as a smithy and sawmill, all used for their own needs. The farm supplied the Cistercian monastery with food, which was transported by sea to Oliwa. The building is situated on a hill, separated from the road by a tributary of the Płutnica River and an artificial pond. Cistercians left here a park surrouding the manor and a courtyard surrounded by farm buildings connected to a clock tower, a chapel and exit gate. Next to it, there is a renovated two-storey granary (built in the 18th century and reconstrited in 19th). The tower, rebuilt in the 19th century, is crowned by a pennant bearing the date 1556.
Next to the bridge, over the culvert from the pond on the tributary of the Płutnica River, there is a 16th-century smithy (formerly a grist mill) and a sawmill. In the smithy we can see a furnace and a partly wooden device originally driven by a waterwheel. These are valuable remnants of late-Gothic industrial buildings.
AMONG THE ANGELIC SOUNDS
Leaving the hospitable land of Puck we head south, to Tricity. The establishment of the abbey in Oliwa is connected with prince Sambor II and the second half of the 80s of the XII century. The Cistercians of Oliwa acquired their assets mostly by donations and, later, by transactions and the lease of lands and lakes, as well as tithes, workshops and printing houses (17/18th century).
The period of the monastery's greatest prosperity was during the reign of Abbot Jacek Rybiński (1740-82), who built the newer part of the Abbots' Palace, established an ornamental garden designed by the greatest Italian masters (today's Oliwa Park), renovated St James' Church and initiated the construction of a 110-voice organ.
Unfortunately, the abbey and its estates were repeatedly destroyed as a result of Prussian invasions, numerous wars and conflicts that swept through Gdańsk Pomerania. As a result of the First Partition of Poland, the Oliva estates found themselves within the Prussian state, whose authorities carried out a cassation (1831). Soon afterwardsthe last monks died. After the erection of the Diocese of Gdańsk (1925), the monastic complex became the seat of the Bishop of Gdańsk and the Diocese of Gdańsk.
The monastery in Oliwa was located about 10km north of Gdańsk, in a valley near the stream, at the end of the 11th century. Monastery rooms, which built-up the four-sided cloister garth surrounded by galleries, adjoined the church from the south. The eastern wing of the monastery (12th century) housed a sacristy, summer refectory, seclusion cell, staircase and the order room. The upper floor housed a dormitory. The western wing (14th century) included a small winter refectory, kitchen, the room of the lay brothers and chapel.
The church of the Virgin Mary was originally (12th c.) a single-nave brick oratory built on a stone foundation. It was later raised and rebuilt three times, and extended with transept arms, arcades, nave bays and other architectural elements characteristic of Cistercian churches. The rebuilding after the fire completely changed the architectural concept of the building, which, according to the convention of 1386, has survived to the present day as an oriented temple with three naves, built on an elongated cruciform plan, with a six-bay triangular closed presbytery surrounded by a wide ambulatory. The choir, with an ambulatory, opens onto the body of the nave - long, ten-bay naves: the main and side nave to the north, and the narrower and shorter south nave, adjacent to the monastery cloister.
The façade is formed by two slender, high towers with pointed helmets. The elevations of the transept are decorated with Blends and bricks laid in opus spicatum (herringbone pattern). The whole is enlivened by a later Baroque portal (1688). Above the intersection of the naves there is a typical element of Cistercian architecture - the bell tower.
The main nave opens into the side aisles and the transept with arcades. It is covered with a stellar vault with an eight-pointed star inscribed in the middle and decorative keystones. In the south aisle there is a cross-ribbed vault, in the north aisle (which is illuminated by ogival windows) - a four-pointed stellar vault, in the chancel - a stellar vault with a leading rib and in the transept stellar vault with interwoven ribs.
In the interior we can find fragments of medieval wall paintings discovered behind the main altar. The attention is drawn to the monumental main altar from 1688, made of black marble and sandstone. Between its columns there is a painting by Andrzej Stech with the figures of the Cistercian monks, the Virgin Mary and Saint Bernard praying to the Holy Trinity.
On the other side of the nave is the main tourist attraction - a rococo organ prospectus. Together with the nine-voice positive organ, it forms one of the most magnificent organ sets of its kind in the world. The whole is completed with two-storey stalls from the early 17th century, a richly decorated baroque pulpit, portraits of the founders and benefactors of the monastery, Pomeranian dukes and Polish kings by Herman Han.
From the former monastery buildings, you can visit cloisters with a cloister garth, the lavatory (with an exhibition of post-Cistercian treasures of the Diocesan Museum) and summer and winter refectory (today it is all located in Gdańsk Theological Seminary). There are also some farm buildings preserved, such as mill and granaries, the gate house (also called The House of Plague), the Abbot's Palace with gardens, the sluice on the Potok Oliwski, a water forge and the Church of St. James.
Since April 1945, when the Cistercians resettled in Oliwa, the monastery has had its seat in Gdańsk Oliwa on Polanki street, and functions as an ordinary priory dedicated to the Mother of God, the Queen of the Polish Crown. The priory belongs to the Cistercian abbey in Szczyrzyc.
We come across the heritage of the Cistercians again a little south of Gdańsk, in Łęgowo, where we can visit the Sanctuary of the Mother of Unity. The parish church of St. Nicholas was originally built in 1409. The present one was built in 1748 thanks to the efforts of the abbot of Oliwa, Iwo Roweder, partly using a Gothic wall.
The Baroque temple was built of brick and plastered. The façade features characteristic tower, which wooden construction was planked. It's a single-nave church with a prominent transept and rather simple presbytery, to which a low vestry adjoins.
Inside we can admire rich post-Cistercian furnishings: Baroque high altar (17th-18th century) with a painting by Herman Han and also a copy of the Madonna - miraculous painting from Rokitno, numerous Baroque paintings, a Mannerist carved cartouche (from 17th century), two altar crosses (brass and silver), liturgical paraphernalia, candlesticks and a Baroque bell (1743) with the image of St Barbara.
THE PEARL OF POMERANIA
The initiative to locate new abbey was taken by Sambor II, the prince of Pomerania. The monastery in Doberan became the mother foundation ground for the new abbey. When the reign in Tczew region was seized by Mściwój II, he granted to Cistercians a large property complex in the Tymawa region, on the right side of the Lower Wierzyca River, as well as Pelplin village, part od which was located on its left side. Cistercians of Pogódki moved to this area in 1276.
Pelplin Abbey owns its strong economy to numerous endowments and subsidies. However, the friars were not only occupied with farming and craft. Cistercians here was developing a writing culture through the systematic expansion of the book collection. It also helped to develop the monastery’s scriptorium.
The glory years of Pelplin Abbey were during the reign of Leonard Rembowski, who inspired the new baroque decoration of the temple, the creation of the famous organ tablatures and the monastery chronicles.
The monastery was completely weakened by the wars of the 17th and 18th centuries, the secularisation of its properties and the limitation of the number of novices. The monastery was finally closed in 1823. The bull of 1821 extended the diocese and made Pelplin its capital. The church became a cathedral and the surrounding village became a town.
The oratory was the first building to be erected after the Cistercians had arrived in Pelplin from Pogódki (today, it is the chapel of the Holy Cross). Between the 13th and the 14th century, the monks erected the church, monastery and farm buildings. On the south side, the church was adjoined by a monastery built around a four-sided cloister garth. The eastern wing, intended for the Fathers, housed a sacristy, chapter house, parlour and bedrooms for monks. The south section was intended for novices and housed the refectory. The western wing was occupied by lay brothers. The complex was supplemented by beautiful gardens, a mill on Wierzyca River and farm buildings.
What draws the particular attention of tourists to the perfectly preserved former Cistercian complex is three-nave, eleven-span pillar basilica, cut in half by a two-nave and a two-span transept hall. The construction workshop of the temple is of the highest class, which is evident from the regularity of its plan and the meticulousness of the details.
The characteristic elements of the brick façade are octagonal towers hiding staircases, gables (in the neo-Gothic style), huge stained-glass windows and a slender bell tower located above the intersection of the nave with the transept. Particularly noteworthy is the original Gothic north portal (first quarter of the 15th c.) with rich figural decoration in the archivolts and capitol zone (angels and saints - symbolism of the heavenly Jerusalem).
The vaults of extraordinary beauty were created gradually - first, the four-armed stellar vaults of the side aisles and decorative eight-pointed vaults of the main nave, and finally, the network and crystal vaults of the transept (1557). Also noteworthy is the set of vault consoles with rich sculptural decoration.
The equipment of the church includes 23 altars, among them is the unique Mannerist main altar, which is considered to be the highest in this part of Europe (25.5 m). In its center we can see a beautiful painting by the master Herman Han Coronation of the Virgin Mary. Above, the Vision of St. Bernard by the same author. Another unique work by Han, an atmospheric nocturne with strong chiaroscuro, The Adoration of the Shepherds, is located in the side altar.
Attention is also drawn to the neo-Gothic frescoes designed by Frederick Stummel, a set of Gothic (mid-15th century), Mannerist and Baroque stalls with unusually elaborate carving decoration, Baroque organs and pulpit with a figure of Samson fighting a lion.
Some of the monastery buildings are also open to visitors - we can visit the Gothic cloisters with cloister garth and a Chapterhouse, which today houses the scriptorium. On the territory of the former abbey we can also see Cistercian outbuildings - mill and granary (now a hotel), a gate house, a classicist bishop's palace surrounded by beautiful gardens and the Gothic Corpus Christi church from 1417.
The Diocesan Museum collects post - Cistercian liturgical paraments and elements of cultural heritage of Pomerania - including cabinet Madonnas. There is also the only copy of Gutenberg Bible in Poland. In Pelplin, it is also worth visiting St. John Paul II Hill, where on 6 June 1999 Holy Father celebrated mass for the faithful.
In 1258 Cistercians from Doberan came to Pogódki. Pomeranian duke Sambor II hands over the document of endowment to the Order - a donation of lands and properties. Thanks to him the first wooden church was built soon. In 1276 the Cistercians leave Pogódki and go to Pelplin.
In 1701 the construction of the current brick church began. In the middle of the 18th century Cistercians again take pastoral care of the parish. In 1767 the new Baroque temple of Apostles Peter and Paul is consecrated. The church was built as a single-nave with uniform Rococo furnishings, predominantly white and gold.
Particularly worth mentioning is the main altar with a gothic statue of Our Lady of Pogódki, the Rococo altar of the Holy Cross, the pulpit and the baptismal font. An interesting element of the equipment is also a Rococo feretron with an image of the Virgin Mary with Child.
The village of Rajkowy is situated on the border of the Oliwa and Pelplin abbey lands. The parish was founded here in 1282 by the Cistercians of Oliwa. Today's church of St Bartholomew was built in 1721, on the site of the original church, using part of the Gothic walls. The Baroque church with a hall configuration and a triangular closed presbytery was built of brick on a stone foundation.
From the old post-Cistercian equipment we can see here two Gothic stone stoup dishes, a Baroque altar with a late-Renaissance statue of St. Bartholomew and the Gothic statue of the Virgin Mary with Child, which was brought from Pelplin, and the 15th century bell called "Bartholomew".
A 15th century manor belonging to a Pelplin abbey can be found in Nowy Dwór. What remains here today is the chapel of St Joseph (from the 17th century), which served the monk managing the manor - now a branch of the parish in Klonówka. The building was built of brick and fieldstone and plastered. The front elevation features a Baroque gable and two semi-circular niches on either side of the entrance door.
Fragments of former manor walls and a manor chapel with a statue of St. John of Nepomuk have also been preserved in the area.
A post-Cistercian temple can also be found in Nowa Cerkiew. The Church of St Michael the Archangel was built in 1312, on the site of an earlier wooden church. In 1764, it was destroyed by fire - only the walls and the vault of the presbytery remained. In the same year, the church was rebuilt in the Baroque style and extended by adding side aisles.
In the interior we can find post-Cistercian furnishings, including: the main altar with the painting of the Virgin Mary (which is considered miraculous) and a stone statue of the Virgin Mary of Sorrows, a Gothic painting of the Immaculate in the altar of Our Lady of the Rosary, a medieval stoup and a large wooden crucifix.
Church of saints Nicholas and Roch in Królówlas functioned for some time as a branch of the parish in Nowa Cerkiew. The present neo-gothic brick church was built on the site of a former wooden one. It has a massive quadrilateral tower and a wooden ceiling.
The history of the local mill probably dates back to the 14th century, when the Cistercians located the village here in cruda radice. The current building dates from the 19th century.
IN KRAJNA, DOBRZYN AND KUJAWY LAND
We continue to travel along the main routes south towards the land of Kujawy, whose numerous estates once belonged to the Grey Monks. In 1286 Cistercians came to Byszewo, beautifully located among the lakes of Krajna. They obtained the privilege of locating the town, but moved to Koronowo, which was a more favourable location due to the crossing here of the trade routes from Świecie to Nakło and from Gdańsk to Poznań.
From Koronowo we head south to Chełmno. Here there was a convent of Cistercian nuns, probably brought from Trzebnica by the missionary bishop Chrystian. The monastery was distinguished by the fact that it was subordinate to the diocesan bishop and had no male guardian monastery. This allowed it to enjoy a high degree of autonomy and independence, for example, the abandonment of the Cistercian rules and the adoption of the more lenient Benedictine rule.
From Chełmno it is not far to Toruń. Here, the Cistercian nuns of the bishop's obedience are associated with the Gothic temple of St James, which in the 14th century was the parish church for the New Town of Toruń. In 1341, by order of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, a convent of Cistercian and Benedictine nuns was merged. As a result of a plague (second half of the 16th century), all the sisters died out and the monastery was taken over by Evangelicals.
After the monks left Byszewo the original monastery church fell into disrepair. Only in 1460 Cistercians incorporated local parish to Koronowo abbey. At that time they started to build a gothic brick church, which was later destroyed by fire in the first quarter of 17th century. It was replaced by the present Mannerist church (1663), which was further extended in the second half of the 18th century.
Inside we can admire the sail vaults and the uniform Rococo decor with a predominance of white and gold colours. The existing post-Cistercian furnishings include above all a set of 17th-century portraits and coffin coats of arms, a group of Crucifixion on the decorative chancel arch and a baptismal basin carved in granite.
The church now serves as the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Byszewo, the Queen of Krajna - her image is in the main altar.
Following in the footsteps of the Cistercians we go to Koronowo, which from 1288 became the seat of the convent. Originally called New Byszewo with time it took its name from the abbey (Corona S.Marie).
The Church of the Virgin Mary and St John the Apostle is a three-nave brick Gothic basilica with a row of chapels on the side aisles. The chancel and north aisle have stellar vaults, the transept and south aisle have cross-ribbed vaults. The main nave has a barrel vault with lunettes.
The Baroque and Rococo interior furnishings include above all: a wooden, polychrome main altar (1738) with rich ornamentation, with two paintings by Bartholomew Strobel - The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Welcoming Mary into Heaven, a pulpit (end of the 17th century), a baptismal font (17th century), the rococo choir, stalls with bas-reliefs and lion-shaped thresholds (late 17th century), as well as paintings from a cycle of ten representations of the life of the Cistercian Order.
The former monastery, rebuilt at the turn of the 17th / 18th century, was converted into a prison after the dissolution of the convent (1819). The abbey palace (17th/ 18th century) was rebuilt at the same time as a rental house, and then incorporated into the prison complex.
One of the temples erected by monks from Koronowo was the first church of St. Lawrence in Mąkowarsko. The present one was built on the same site in 1790-91. The baroque crucifix, the high altar from the beginning of the 18th century and the baptismal font (ca. 1740) are the remains of the Cistercians.
In 1652 the monastery in Koronowo took over the patronage of the parish in Łąsko Wielkie. The present church (1765) was built in the Baroque style on a small hill. The high altar contains post-Cistercian paintings from the first half of the 19th century, including a copy of the Transfiguration by Raphael.
The post-Cistercian church in Wierzchucin Królewski, built in 1690 from the foundation of Ignacy Bernard Gniński, abbot of Koronowo, has not survived. The present church (1930-31) is pseudo-Baroque, however has elements of the former decoration - a flag with the abbot's coat of arms and the date 1690, as well as Rococo interior design.
The Cistercians founded a parish in Wtelno in 1470. The original wooden church from the 15th century was replaced by another wooden one in 1690, and in 1785-87 a brick church was built on a stone foundation. A chapel was added in 1863 and a neo-baroque tower with a cupola in 1908. The interior has Rococo elements: a painting of the Virgin and Child in silver gowns on the high altar, side altars, pulpit, organ case and other paintings from the 18th century.
According to the legend the convent of Cistercian nuns was brought to Chełmno by the Prussian missionary bishop Chrystian of Trzebnica in 1230. In the 13th and 14th century the monastery received many donations of land and movable goods. Around 1388 it merged with the convent in Toruń, and in 1439 the nuns departed from the Cistercian rules and adopted the milder Benedictine rule.
After the abolition in 1821, the Prussian king handed the monastery buildings over to the Daughters of Charity, who organised a hospital and an elementary school for girls. At present, part of the buildings is occupied by a Nursing Home for children and adults.
The convent church of St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist is a two-storey hall building. The floors are divided by a nuns' gallery, covered with a stellar vault with ornamented vault keystones. Noteworthy is also the stone south portal in Mannerist style.
Particularly valuable pieces of local equipment are: the sculpture of Christ with movable arms (1380), the gothic frieze in the gallery, the set of stalls and the pulpit from ca. 1597, organ prospectus (1619), Baroque main altar and Pieta by Bartholomew Strobel.
Reconstructing the history of the Cistercian convent in Toruń is not easy, as the archives of St James' Church, handed over to the Protestants together with the monastery buildings, have not survived. We only know that in 1341 Dietrich von Altenburg, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, granted the Cistercians the right of patronage over the church, the rectory and the school.
As a result of a plague in the second half of the 16th century, all the nuns died out and in 1579 the church and monastery were taken over by Evangelicals. As a result of a trick, the nuns were deprived of their property rights documents - the Protestants took ownership of the buildings and set up a poorhouse in the monastery.
The church of St James (built between 1309 and 1350)is a Gothic basilica with numerous decorative elements in the form of pinnacles, blendes and glazed bricks. The east gable of the presbytery is quite unique in its expression. The interior was whitewashed during the Lutheran period.
The post-Cistercian furnishings include a ceramic frieze (1311), a burial crypt, wall polychromes, a valuable mystical crucifix in the form of the Tree of Life and several sculptures, including the Madonna and Child (14th century), a black Crucifix and the Madonna of the Rosary. Of the later furnishings, the main altar (1731) and the music gallery draw attention.
