The castle in Lubiaz, located on one of the oldest river crossings of the Oder River, was founded in the early feudal era and was considered very old as early as the 12th century. To thisIt was on August 16, 1163 that the first Cistercians arrived from Pforta on the Saale in Thuringia. They were brought to Lubiaz by Duke Boleslaw I the Tall. At the beginning of the 13th century they organized their branches: in Mogila near Kraków - 1222, in Henryków - 1227, in Kamieniec Ząbkowicki - 1249, and took over the care of the Cistercian monastery in Trzebnica. The 14th century was a period of peak economic and cultural prosperity for the medieval abbey, which was then the center of literary and historiosophical production in Silesia. Its estates, thanks to numerous donations and purchases, reach from Greater Poland through Silesia to Malopolska. This systematic development was interrupted between 1428 and 1432 by the Hussite wars and began a long period of slow decline that lasted until 1492. Throughout the 16th century, the abbots who ruled the order tried to rebuild the economy and monastic life with varying success. However, it was not until after the Thirty Years' War, under the rule of the most illustrious abbots : Arnold Freiberger (1632 - 1672) and Jan Reich (1672 - 1691), that a long period of reconstruction, economic and cultural flourishing of the monastic foundation begins, lasting more than a century. Between 1681 and 1739, thanks to the monastery's immense wealth, new facilities are built: the abbot's palace, monastery, brewery, bakery, hospital and many other outbuildings. During this time, the interior of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary was also thoroughly rebuilt, giving it a magnificent Baroque décor and furnishings. The new abbot's palace, church and monastery form a huge complex that is one of the largest of its kind in Central Europe. The interiors are filled with magnificent halls: the prince's hall, the library, the abbot's dining room, the refectory and more than 300 other beautiful rooms decorated with exquisite canvases by the great Silesian painter Michal Willmann, Matthew Steinl.paintings by Krystian Bentum and Felix Scheffler, sculptures by Franz Mangoldt . The construction of such a huge complex, its exquisite furnishings are the last period of splendor of this monastery, which ends with the passage of Silesia under Prussian rule in 1740. From the moment the Prussian army entered Silesia, the monastery painfully felt the burden of Frederick II's fiscal policy and was exposed to numerous repressions by a king hostile to the Catholic clergy. Finally, in 1810, by royal decree, the Lubicz Abbey was secularized. After 650 years, the Cistercian Order in Lubiaz ceased to exist. 471 canvases, including 63 canvases by Michael Willmann from the church and palace, and many valuable sculptures, coins and musical instruments were taken and removed from the monastery. The monastery buildings were used as a hospital, and St. Jacob's Church was first turned into an arsenal and then turned over to the Protestant community. From 1823, the monastery was adapted as a hospital for mentally ill patients from aristocratic families, while the outbuildings, residential buildings and the palace became the property of the state stud farm. During World War II, the monastery complex was put into production for wartime needs, operated by an international forced labor camp. In the spring of 1944, the rest of Willmann's paintings were taken from the palace and church. The stalls were dismantled. The sculptures and decor of the church and palace were scattered to various churches and museums. From 1945 to 1948, a hospital for Soviet Army units was organized in the monastery. Since 1950, the entire huge complex had practically no host. It was used in part by the House of Books and the National Museum in Wroclaw for warehouses. The lack of a host caused the buildings to undergo a process of decapitalization and looting. It was not until 1962 that the Provincial Conservator of Monuments in Wroclaw began comprehensive work to save the entire complex. However, money was still in short supply, not even enough to complete the work to protect against further destruction.
dzi**** - 08.10.2017
