Mogiła Abbey ( pl, Opactwo Cystersów w Mogile; la, Abbatia B.M.V. de Clara Tumba) is a

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

in the

Nowa Huta Nowa Huta (, literally "The New Steel Mill") is the easternmost district of Kraków, Poland. With more than 200,000 inhabitants, it is one of the most populous areas of the city. Until 1990, the neighbouring districts were considered expansions o ...

District of

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

, Poland. The abbey was founded in 1222 by the

Bishop of Kraków A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Iwo Odrowąż Iwo Odrowąż (died 21 August 1229) was a medieval Polish humanist, statesman, and bishop. Life Iwo was very probably born in Końskie, son of Szaweł Odrowąż and a member of the noble family of Odrowąż. He studied in Bologna and Paris, maint ...

. The religious complex was built for religious reasons as well as for prestige. It was the largest and most impressive church in

medieval Poland This article covers the history of Poland in the Middle Ages. This time covers roughly a millennium, from the 5th century to the 16th century. It is commonly dated from the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, and contrasted with a later Early Modern ...

after

Wawel Cathedral The Wawel Cathedral ( pl, Katedra Wawelska), formally titled the Royal Archcathedral Basilica of Saints Stanislaus and Wenceslaus, is a Roman Catholic cathedral situated on Wawel Hill in Kraków, Poland. Nearly 1000 years old, it is part of the ...

, and served as the Odrowąż family's burial place until the 16th century. The architectural complex includes the

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

Polish Gothic The Gothic architecture arrived in Poland in the first half of the 13th century with the arrival of the Dominican and Franciscan orders. The first elements of the new style are evident in the foundation of the Dominican Trinity church in Kraków ...

church, the

Basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

of the Holy Cross ( pl, Bazylika Krzyża Świętego), which serves as the

Parish Church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

of St.

Bartholomew the Apostle Bartholomew (Aramaic: ; grc, Βαρθολομαῖος, translit=Bartholomaîos; la, Bartholomaeus; arm, Բարթողիմէոս; cop, ⲃⲁⲣⲑⲟⲗⲟⲙⲉⲟⲥ; he, בר-תולמי, translit=bar-Tôlmay; ar, بَرثُولَماو� ...

as well as the abbey church for the monks. There is also the

Polish Renaissance The Renaissance in Poland ( pl, Renesans, Odrodzenie; literally: the Rebirth) lasted from the late 15th to the late 16th century and is widely considered to have been the Golden Age of Polish culture. Ruled by the Jagiellonian dynasty, the Crown ...

-style

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...

's palace, built around 1569, as well as the red-brick monastery, with a broad inner courtyard, outbuildings, vegetable garden, greenhouse, etc.

History

Under the reign of

Henry I the Bearded Henry the Bearded ( pl, Henryk (Jędrzych) Brodaty, german: Heinrich der Bärtige; c. 1165/70 – 19 March 1238) was a Polish duke from the Piast dynasty. He was Duke of Silesia at Wrocław from 1201, Duke of Kraków and High Duke of all Polan ...

, the Duke of Silesia, a community of monks was brought in from

Lubiąż Abbey Lubiąż Abbey (german: Kloster Leubus; pl, Opactwo cystersów w Lubiążu) is a former Cistercian monastery in Lubiąż, in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship of southwestern Poland, located about northwest of Wrocław.The monastery is considere ...

to Mogiła by Odrowąż around 1219, to commence the construction of the brand new church in his diocese. He granted them a village by the

Vistula River The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...

, close to his residence in the capital. The monastic community, consisting of the 13

professed A vow ( Lat. ''votum'', vow, promise; see vote) is a promise or oath. A vow is used as a promise, a promise solemn rather than casual. Marriage vows Marriage vows are binding promises each partner in a couple makes to the other during a weddin ...

monks mandatory for an independent monastery, moved in around 1225, although the expansion of the abbey continued for years to come. The Mogiła Abbey was confirmed by the Roman Curia through a papal bull signed by

Pope Gregory IX Pope Gregory IX ( la, Gregorius IX; born Ugolino di Conti; c. 1145 or before 1170 – 22 August 1241) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 March 1227 until his death in 1241. He is known for issuing the '' Decre ...

on 9 June 1228. In

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, the monastery still retains its name of ''Clara Tumba'' (Bright Tomb), a name derived from two local

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

s. There is an ancient

barrow Barrow may refer to: Places England * Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria ** Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, local authority encompassing the wider area ** Barrow and Furness (UK Parliament constituency) * Barrow, Cheshire * Barrow, Gloucestershire * Barro ...

, called

Wanda Mound Wanda Mound ( pl, kopiec Wandy) is a tumulus located in Mogiła (since 1949 a neighbourhood of district Nowa Huta) in Kraków, Poland. The mound is assumed to be the resting place of the legendary princess Wanda. According to one version of the ...

, within a mile of the monastery site; and the name of the site of the monastery, originally the village of Mogiła, translates as "tomb" in Polish. In 1241 the abbey was ransacked in the course of the Mongol invasion of Poland. It was rebuilt and the abbey church was consecrated in 1266 by Bishop

Jan Prandota Jan Prandota (c. 1200 – 20 September 1266) was bishop of Kraków from 1242 to his death in 1266. He was member of the Odrowąż family.Jacek Maciejewski: Episkopat polski doby dzielnicowej, 1180-1320. Kraków 2003, p. 234. Prandota is recorded a ...

. It was later consumed by fire in 1447. It was ravaged again in the 17th century by the invading Swedish army. The abbey was destroyed and its entire resident population was killed by the Swedes, except for two monks whose lives were spared. The structure was renovated numerous times. The

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

façade of the monastery church was added in 1779–80, based on a design by Franz Moser. The abbey church was promoted in 1970 by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

to the rank of a

minor basilica In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular ...

, and visited by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

, who celebrated

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

for 200,000 people in a nearby open field in 1979.

Notable individuals

Under the reign of Abbot Erazm Ciołek (a relative of the noted scholar, Bishop Erazm Ciołek of Płock), who was elected as abbot in 1522, the abbey was restored to its former glory, with a greatly expanded collection of rare books. He died two years after being appointed the

Vicar General A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ...

of the Archdiocese of Kraków in 1544, and was buried in the abbey cemetery. This abbot employed the services of the

painter Stanisław Samostrzelnik, known also as Stanisław z Mogiły (c. 1490–1541), who spent his final years working at the abbey, where he died. His frescoes are featured in the right-hand

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

and in one of the chapels of the monastery church, including his painting on the forward wall of the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

from c. 1530.

Gallery

File:Cistercian Abbey, Church of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and Saint Wenceslaus, facade, 11 Klasztorna street, Mogiła, Nowa Huta, Kraków, Poland.jpg, Basilica File:Cistercian Abbey, Church of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and Saint Wenceslaus, main nave, 11 Klasztorna street, Mogiła, Nowa Huta, Kraków, Poland.jpg, Basilica interior File:Cistercian abbey, monastery-interiors, cloister N, 11 Klasztorna street, Mogiła, Nowa Huta, Kraków, Poland.jpg, Abbey cloister File:Cistercian abbey, monastery-interiors, patio, 11 Klasztorna street, Mogiła, Nowa Huta, Kraków, Poland.jpg, Courtyard File:Cistercian abbey, monastery-interiors, chapter house interior, 11 Klasztorna street, Mogiła, Nowa Huta, Kraków, Poland.jpg, Chapter house interior File:Cistercian abbey, old abbot's house, 11 Klasztorna street, Mogiła, Nowa Huta, Krakow, Poland.jpg, Old abbot's house

References

External links

Opactwo Cystersów w Mogile
''Mogiła Abbey'' homepage. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mogila Abbey Cistercian monasteries in Poland Roman Catholic churches in Kraków 13th-century establishments in Poland Christian monasteries established in the 13th century Basilica churches in Poland Gothic architecture in Poland Religious organizations established in the 1220s