The Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption or Pelplin Abbey ( la, Polplinum) is a former

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 ...

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

, located in

Pelplin Pelplin (; csb, Pôłplëno; formerly German also: ''Pelplin'') is a town in northern Poland, in the Tczew County, Pomeranian Voivodship. Population: 8,320 (2009). Pelplin is located in the ethnocultural region of Kociewie in Pomerania. It is hom ...

, Poland, to the south of

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

History

It was founded in 1258 by

Sambor II, Duke of Pomerania Sambor II of Tczew ( pl, Sambor II Tczewski; c. 1211/1212 – December 1277 or 1278) was a duke of Pomerania and prince of Lubiszewo Tczewskie. Sambor was a son of Mestwin I, Duke of Pomerania, and member of the Samborides. He was married to ...

, as "Samboria", and was a daughter house of the Cistercian

Doberan Abbey Doberan Abbey (''Kloster Doberan'') is a former Cistercian monastery in Bad Doberan, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. The Brick Gothic church continues in use as Doberan Minster (''Doberaner Münster''). After the conversion to Christianity of th ...

. It was first sited in Pogódki (Pogutken) near

Kościerzyna Kościerzyna ( Kashubian and Pomeranian: ''Kòscérzëna''; formerly german: Berent, ) is a town in Kashubia in Gdańsk Pomerania region, northern Poland, with some 24,000 inhabitants. It has been the capital of Kościerzyna County in Pomerania ...

(Berent) and re-located in 1276 to Pelplin. By decree of the

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

government of 5 March 1823 it was dissolved. Since 1824 the church, as Pelplin Cathedral, has been until 1992 the cathedral of the

Diocese of Chelmno In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

, and since then of the new Diocese of Pelplin.

Main building

Work on the

Brick Gothic Brick Gothic (german: Backsteingotik, pl, Gotyk ceglany, nl, Baksteengotiek) is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Northeast and Central Europe especially in the regions in and around the Baltic Sea, which do not have resourc ...

building (length 80 m, height 26 m) began in 1289. The church was finished in 1323; additional work was completed in 1557. Currently, it is one of the largest church buildings in Poland. The cathedral is known as an impressive early example of Northern German

architecture. In Pelpin, the architecture has also been influenced by

tradition. File:Katedra Pelplińska 1.JPG, Pelplin Abbey File:Pelplin a.JPG, Abbey at night File:2010.10.02 PELPLIN (21).jpg, Main altar File:20100701 Pelpin, cathedral, 7.jpg, Main nave of the abbey File:Pelplin Katedra 005.jpg, A

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

portal Portal often refers to: * Portal (architecture), an opening in a wall of a building, gate or fortification, or the extremities (ends) of a tunnel Portal may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * ''Portal'' (series), two video games ...

File:Pelplin Katedra 009.jpg, An altar with painting by Herman Hann File:Pelplin ambona 0473.jpg, A

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 ...

pulpit File:Pelplin Katedra 051.jpg, Late-Gothic choir stalls File:Pelplin Katedra 069.jpg, Paintings in the interior of the cathedral File:6 Pelplin 135.jpg, Gothic

stained-glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

window File:Pelplin wirydarz 1.jpg, A corridor inside the abbey File:20100701 Pelpin, cathedral, 1.jpg, West interior side.

References

*Antoni, Michael, 1993: ''Dehio-Handbuch der Kunstdenkmäler, West- und Ostpreußen'', pp. 469–473 (with plan). Munich and Berlin:

Deutscher Kunstverlag The Deutscher Kunstverlag (DKV) is an educational publishing house with offices in Berlin and Munich. The publisher specializes in books about art, cultural history, architecture, and historic preservation. History Deutscher Kunstverlag was fo ...

. * Binding, Günther, Untermann, Matthias, 2001: ''Kleine Kunstgeschichte der mittelalterlichen Ordensbaukunst in Deutschland'', 3rd edn., p. 222 (with plan). Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft Darmstadt. No ISBN *Dehio, Georg, 1922: ''Handbuch der Deutschen Kunstdenkmäler, Zweiter Band Nordostdeutschland'', 2nd edn., pp 362 ff. (edited by Julius Kohte). Berlin: Ernst Wasmuth A.G. *Faryna-Paszkiewicz, Hanna; Omilanowska, Małgorzata; Pasieczny, Robert, 2001: ''Atlas zabytków architektury w Polsce'', p. 44. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN. *Pasierb, Janusz, 1993: ''Der Pelpliner Dom'', Pelplin Diözesanverlag. No ISBN *Schneider, Ambrosius, 1986: ''Lexikale Übersicht der Männerklöster der Cistercienser im deutschen Sprach- und Kulturraum'', in: Schneider, Ambrosius; Wienand, Adam; Bickel, Wolfgang; Coester, Ernst (eds.): ''Die Cistercienser, Geschichte – Geist – Kunst'', 3rd edn., p. 683. Cologne: Wienand Verlag.

External links

*
Photos and history of Pelplin Cathedral
Cistercian monasteries in Poland 1258 establishments in Europe Basilica churches in Poland Tczew County Buildings and structures in Pomeranian Voivodeship

13th-century establishments in Poland {{Poland-RC-cathedral-stub