Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene (former Dominican Church)
The Parish church of St. Mary Magdalene in its present shape was built at the turn of the 18th century, although it had existed for several centuries earlier as the church of the Dominican monastery. The Cieszyn Dominicans were convinced that their monastery was founded in 1225 by St. Jacek Odrowąż who set up the Krakow Dominican monastery. They even officially celebrated the 500th anniversary of their monastery’s foundation in 1725. In actual fact the Cieszyn monastery was founded in the second half of the 13th century, most probably in 1272 by Euphemia, the wife of Vladislaus I, Prince of Opole and Racibórz. The first written mention of Dominicans in Cieszyn dates from 1332 when the monastery had been already completed. The Dominicans were an urban order, but Cieszyn monastery from the beginning relied on the generosity of Cieszyn Princes from whom the Dominicans were given a farm outside Cieszyn (the name of the nearby village, Mnisztwo, derives from the Polish word mnich meaning monk), and later also in the village of Krasna. The Dominican church, however, also served as the final resting place of the Cieszyn Princes. In 1408 Prince Premislaus I Noszak founded a new chapel dedicated to St. Andrew and helped to increase the income of the monastery in order to support 20 priests and 8 clerics. The monastery complex, apart from the church, consisted of monastic buildings surrounding an inner garden, and some outbuildings including the so-called “friars’ well” which was used by the monks and later became known as the Three Brothers’ Well.
The Dominican church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary originally occupied the space which later became the transept of the church which replaced it. Some time later the church was widened. The third stage of the architectural development of the Dominican church most probably took place during the rule of Prince Premislaus I Noszak; the building was reorientated. The existing church became the transept of the new Gothic church. A grand choir for the monks was added to it on the northern side and a slightly smaller nave for the congregation to the south. According to descriptions which have survived to the present day the Dominican church was full of light, lofty, beautiful and grand. Panoramas and views dating from the 17th and 18th centuries depict the church as a tall building with a steep roof, with no tower above the crossing, but with two turrets on the ends of the transept. The church was 53 metres long and 9.5 metres wide. The transept was 5.7 metres wide and over 20 metres long, which was similar to the dimensions of the original church. The simple façade was accentuated by a quite splendid portal. The present entrance to the church from the Dominican Square used to lead directly to the monastery complex.
The work of the Dominican Order in Cieszyn was disrupted by Prince Wenceslas Adam’s introduction of the Reformation to the Cieszyn Duchy around 1545. The Dominicans were forced to leave the monastery and moved to Oświęcim; the order’s properties either given away or sold by the Prince. The church was used by Lutheran preachers as their second church in Cieszyn where sermons were usually delivered in German. After 1609 the monastery together with the church were returned to the Dominicans who also recovered the farms in Mnisztwo and Krasna. When the Piast lineage died out the Dominicans enjoyed the support of the gentry and the Cieszyn townspeople, quite often in exchange for an honourable burial in the church next to the Cieszyn Princes. In the Larisch chapel founded in 1660 the district starost, Adam Wacław Paczyński Count of Tęczyn, was ceremonially buried, although in a simple copper coffin in accordance with his will. The Holy Rosary Confraternity and the Arch-confraternity of the Holy Cross were established in the church in 1682 by Maximilian Pröckel von Pröckelsdorf. In the 18th century the Austrian authorities, influenced by the principles of enlightened absolutism, began to interfere in the internal affairs of the Dominican monastery. For instance in 1766the number of monks was reduced to 15, although the income was still too low to support even them. From 1784 the church of the Dominican monastery became the seat of a newly established parish which included the upper part of the town, the Upper Suburb, Młynówka, and the villages of Bobrek, Gułdowy, Krasna, Zamarski and Błogocice. The parish also administered two affiliated churches of the Holy Trinity and the Holy Cross. In 1789 almost the whole town was destroyed by the great fire of Cieszyn, including both the parish and the Dominican church together with the monastery. Both turrets were destroyed and the bells melted. The authorities decided to rebuild the Dominican church which was less severely damaged, and establishing the seat of the parish there while the Cieszyn Dominican monastery was closed down. The Dominican properties in Krasna and Mnisztwo were bought by Archduke Albert and Maria Christina. The monastery’s fittings, furnishings, vestments and liturgical vessels were transferred to newly established parishes in Cieszyn Silesia. Only a small number of them ended up in the parish church which was established there. The remnants of the Dominican church include fragments of Gothic shafts in the transept’s wings dating from the 13th and 14th centuries and several old portals in different parts of the church, some Gothic. In 1893 during the building of the new presbytery on the site of one of the former monastery’s wings many human bones were found, most probably those of Dominicans, since in the past monks used to be buried under cloisters. The remains were transferred and reinterred on the graveyard by the church of the Holy Trinity.
In the presbytery’s wall there is tomb with an effigy of a Piast Prince, which was originally located in front of the altar over the Piasts’ crypt. It is not known with certainty whose likeness is depicted. At the beginning of the 19th century it was generally believed that it is Prince Adam Wenceslas who returned the church and the monastery confiscated during the Reformation to the Dominicans. However, the statue is much older, dating from the turn of the 14th century and was sculpted by an artist linked to the workshop of Peter Parler. Apart from the Cieszyn Madonna this is the most important work of art to demonstrate the close links between Cieszyn and the Prague court of the Luxembourgs. It most probably depicts Prince Premislaus I Noszak who was a close adviser of Emperor Charles IV, and later of his son, King Wenceslas IV. The statue depicts the ruler as an older man in a majestic pose wearing a princely coronet with a sword in his hand, and resting his feet against a lion. Prince Premislaus I was one of the Dominican church’s benefactors, for example founding the chapel of St. Andrew. It is also known that he was buried in the crypt of the church as were most of the other Cieszyn rulers of the Piasts’ dynasty together with their families since the Dominican church was used by them as their final resting place. According to a document dating from 1408 the crypt of Prince Premislaus’ ancestors was situated within the presbytery by the high altar (presently in the transept). Unfortunately as a result of the complete rebuilding of the church at the turn of the 18th century the original crypts were destroyed. Research carried out by a commission appointed for that reason in 1934 revealed the existence of numerous burial chambers under the church unconnected with each other. However, the condition of human remains found in the crypts made it impossible to identify any of the vaults with the tombs of Cieszyn Piasts. Remains of other people buried within the monastery but unrelated to the Piasts have survived in better condition, particularly the tomb of a Swedish noblewoman, Sigrid Brahe who died in 1608. Ornaments from her coffin are currently exhibited in the Museum of Cieszyn Silesia.
We reach the Market Square, Cieszyn’s main square. It also owes its foundation to the Piasts, to be precise - to Prince Casimir II. In 1496 he gave over a piece of land outside the town walls used for trading in order to establish a new market square. The Prince also donated two houses situated near the Dominican monastery to the town in order to create a new town hall.
Editing and selection of illustrations: Renata Karpińska Photographs: Renata Karpińska, Paweł Halama, Anna Fedrizzi, Joanna Rzepka, Tomasz Matysiak, Henryk Tesarczyk, Dominik Dubiel Photograph of the heller of Premislaus I: Wojciech Woźniak
Translation from Polish: Irena and David French