Present

Legnickie Pole Monastery  

The provostship was built on a rectangular ground plan. The elevation of the church situated centrally on the axis of the western wing is slightly reversed towards the line of the monastery. It was bent sinuously and bulged on the axis with the main entrance placed between the column portico with a semicircular, outstanding fronton with statues of the saints. In the centre there is a statue of St. Hedwig of Silesia, on the sides Sts. Benedict and Scholastica. The elevation is flanked with two towers topped off with copulas crowned with ducal mitras. The temple has a central-elongated shape, its plan is designated on two parallel ellipses overlapping from its  longer side. Another two smaller ellipses are located on both sides of the bigger ellipses and together with the circle-shaped presbytery they give the  impression of a building composed of many smaller pieces which forms chain connecting effect   for all elements composing the main transept and the narrow side chapels (two on the southern and two on the northern side). The walls of these chapels are set with large windows.

The side doors located in the facade lead to two porches with vaults in the shape of flattened copulas decorated with frescoes presenting the emperors Leopold I and Charles VI. On the walls there are inscriptions referring to these paintings. The articulation of the interior is built on a system of pilasters embraced with columns with composite capitals supporting a sail vault constituting a large area for painting decoration. The latter is very rich and complex, consisting of two main themes: one of them, presented on the frescoes of the church’s main axis  (from the vault of the organ arch to the presbytery arch) shows a scene from the discovery of the corpse of Henry by his wife Anna. On the sides there is the Tatar army and St. Hedwig transferring the relics of the Holy Cross to the Benedictine monks from Opatowice. In the centre of the nave we can see Christian knights fighting with the symbols of pagan cults, the discovery of the relics of the Holy Cross by empress Helene and the triumph of the Cross in relation toall nations of the world. In the first presbytery arch we can see the glory of St. Benedict, saints of his order and related convents, and in the main apse the glory of the Virgin Mary. The second theme is composed of frescoes on the vaults of side chapels, paintings in the altars of side chapels and statues in the niches. The frescoes present: the death of Christ on the Cross, St. Benedict sending Sts. Maurice and Placid to Gaul, St. Adalbert and Bolesław of Czech erecting the abbey at Brevnow and abbot Othmar bringing Benedictine monks to the new church at Legnickie Pole.

 In the side altars there are presentations of the Descent of the Cross, the apotheosis of St. Benedict, St. Adalbert performing the miracle of sending rain to the Green Mountain and the martyrdom of St. Margaret. In the niches there are statues of: St. John the Baptist, St. Joseph, St. Günthera the Hermit, St. John of Nepomuk, St. Mary Magdalene, St. John, St. Maurice, St. Placid, St. Laurent, St. Stephen, St. Othmar of Sankt-Gallen, St. Procopius of Sazava, St. Ludmila and St. Agnes of Bohemia.

The painting in the high altar (made by Franciszek de Becker) presents St. Hedwig at the corpse of Henry the Pious. In the background we can see the defensive walls of Legnica surrounded by Tatars. The painting is flanked with columns, in front of which are statues of Sts. Peter and Paul. The outstanding fronton on the top of the altar is decorated with sculptures of The Holy Trinity.

The mobile furnishings of the interior consist of: wooden carved pews, monks stalls , the throne with the initials of abbot Jakub Chmiel, the font and the organ prospect – made by the Silesian organ builder Adam Horatio Casparini.

The church is embraced with the wings of the monastery forming two symmetrical patios (on the northern and southern side of the church) with a well in the centre of each. In the northern wing there used to be the monastery, and on the southern the prelacy. On the corners of the inside elevations of the eastern wing there are adjacent external staircase towers, and on the axis of each of the patio there is a neo-Baroque building. The monastery buildings are two-storey, covered with a ridge roof and on the corner there are pseudo-avant-corps with a mansard roof. The outside facade articulation is composed of a cornice, lesene and on the corners – bossages. The two portals on the axis of the western wings are decorated with the coat of arms of Břevnow and Borumow, and statues embodying four cardinal virtues. Behind the eastern wing we can still visit the neo-Baroque garden with its octagonal pavilion