Klasztor kanoników regularnych w Czerwińsku nad Wisłą, Romanesque monastery in Czerwińsk nad Wisłą, Poland
The monastery complex in Czerwińsk nad Wisłą consists of the Romanesque Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, built in the second quarter of the 12th century with a valuable Romanesque portal, and monastic buildings attached to its south side. These date from the 15th–16th centuries and were rebuilt in the 17th century. The 15th-century bell tower, known as the Abbot Kula Gate, stands nearby.
The monastery was founded in the second quarter of the 12th century by Alexander of Malonne, bishop of Płock, and is first documented in a 1155 bull of Pope Adrian IV. In July 1410 Władysław Jagiełło prayed here after crossing the Vistula before the campaign against the Teutonic Order, and after Grunwald he reportedly gave the monastery his battle helmet. The canons were suppressed in 1819; Salesians took over the site in 1923.
The monastery's name comes from the town of Czerwińsk nad Wisłą. The revered image of Our Lady of Czerwińsk drew King John II Casimir, who donated standards captured from the Cossacks. The Gothic hall in the south wing, once the canons' chapter house and later the Norbertine refectory, became a chapel for the Salesian novitiate.
The monastery holds regular Mass services and offers guided tours through the architectural complex to see its different spaces. Visitors should expect uneven floors in older parts of the building and dress respectfully as this is an active religious site.
The Gothic hall on the ground floor of the south wing served the canons as a chapter house and later the Norbertine nuns as a refectory. During World War II the Germans used it as a store for fresh bread, which destroyed its frescoes; it was restored only in the 1980s and 1990s.
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