The surviving complex of monastery buildings dates from the abbey's heyday (1651-1743). THE CLASSIC HOUSE The Gothic chapter house dates from the 2nd half of the 14th century, was subjected to aany baroqueization in 1725. The chapter house's stucco altarpiece is attributed to Pompeo Ferrari. The walls are decorated with six symbolically composed paintings framed in stucco. They were executed by an anonymous painter in the first decade of the 18th century. Each of the larger paintings corresponds to a small medallion with a suitably selected symbol placed in the lower part. The content of each scene is taken from the Old Testament. The brackets of the stalls on the four sides surrounding the chapterhouse depict saints and blesseds of the Cistercian order. Monastery cloisters from the 14th century decorated with paintings by Adam Swach. The Oratory of St. James the Apostle (the former Chapel) was built in the 2nd half of the 14th century. It is richly decorated with polychrome, which dates back to about 1372, and is the most valuable monument of medieval art in Poland. On the second floor of the south wing is the Abbey Hall currently housing the Seminary Library, which stores incunabula and old prints. Attention is drawn to the fresco that covers the entire ceiling of the hall; its author is Adam Swach. This painting was created in 1722. The Lądzki treasury is decorated with, among other things, the treatise "De Homine" by Galeottus Martusia from 1474, as well as a Mannerist monstrance and a magnificent pacifier - a cross with relics. One of the most valuable relics from the Ląd monastery is the so-called patena of Kaliska, Ląd, otherwise known as the patena of Mieszko III the Old. Currently the paten is in the collegiate church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kalisz, and probably went there after the dissolution of the Ląd abbey in 1819. Today, since 1952, the monastery buildings house the Salesian Society Higher Seminary. POCYSTERS CHURCH The post-Cistercian church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Nicholas. The interior of the church is very richly furnished and decorated with stucco, sculpture and painting. The three-story main altar was created in 1721 in Glogow, Silesia. The altar of the Holy Cross was made according to the design of Pompeo Ferrari. The altar of St. Francis of Assisi, originally St. Benedict was founded in the 2nd pot. XVIII century.The monumental organ built by Cistercian friar, master Joseph Koegler is a twenty-voice instrument with beautiful sculptural and woodcarving decoration. A general renovation completed in 2002 restored the organ to its Cistercian and Baroque splendor. Along the walls of the chancel stand richly carved oak stalls made around 1680 by Cistercian Bartholomew Adrian. The pulpit of 1735 was made by woodcarvers and sculptors from Rawicz and Rydzyna. The sculptural decoration is rococo. The door, balustrade and basket are decorated with bas-reliefs recalling Gospel parables. In addition, the basket is surrounded by figures of four seated evangelists. The richly decorated canopy features figures of the Church Fathers, with St. Bernard of Clairvaux towering over them. Four twin confessionals have been located in the corners of the nave since 1735. Noteworthy is the transept dome, known as the Little Dome. Its polychromy was created in 1730. The vaulting of the chancel, the transept and the surrounding cornice were covered in the last decade of the 17th century with extremely rich stucco decoration with floral motifs with putti, cartouches and shells, representing the highest level of this type of implementation in Europe at that time. Also delightful is the polychrome of the 38-meter high dome of the nave, made by Georg Wilhelm Neunhertz, under a program arranged by Abbot Lukomski himself. It is dedicated to the Apotheosis of the Church. In addition, the interior contains the tombstone of Abbot Mikołaj Łukomski, a stucco monument with a portrait of Archbishop Krzysztof Antoni Szembek painted on tin, as well as a marble plaque commemorating 152 priests and monks, prisoners of the camp for clergy that the Nazis organized in 1940-1941 at Ląd. Most of them gave their lives in the Dach death camp.
31.08.2014
