The Cistercian Church and Monastery in Mogiła
ul. Klasztorna 11
The Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Wenceslas in Mogiła, together with the adjacent monastic complex, belongs to the most precious sacred architectural heritage of Małopolska.
The Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Wenceslas in Mogiła, together with the adjacent complex of the Cistercian monastery, belongs to the most precious sacred architectural heritage of Małopolska. Apart from the baroque façade appended to the church in the 18th century, the complex combines features of the Romanesque style with traits of incoming Gothic, which makes the whole highly valuable as few such structures have been preserved in Poland. The Cistercians, who the church belongs to, arrived here in 1222 after being invited by the Bishop of Kraków, Blessed Iwo Odrowąż.
The church is home to the Crucifix of Mogiła, famed as a channel for divine grace. This unique sculpture is the only element of the furnishings that survived a fire in the church in the 15th century. Only Christ’s hair and loincloth were burnt, which is why the figure of the Saviour has worn a wig of genuine hair ever since and been swathed in a piece of real fabric.
During the Renaissance, Mogiła became especially famous for its polychrome murals. Stanisław Samostrzelnik, a Cistercian monk and artist employed among others at the court of King Sigismund the Old, brought the art of wall painting to heights previously unheard of. His murals can be admired both in the church in Mogiła (e.g. the scenes of Annunciation and Crucifixion) and in its monastery’s library. Similar examples of Renaissance polychrome mural are extremely rare in Poland.