Post-Cistercian Monastery
The monastery still has its 14th-century cloisters, vestibule, oratory and chapter house, as well as its basement with its gothic groin and rib vaults. The chapter house is covered with a rarely encountered three-point star vault supported on a single, central pillar.
The frescoes adorning the oratory of the apostle St. James, son of Zebedee, were painted in 1372 and are among Poland’s most precious medieval artistic treasures. The founding of the monastery by Wierzbięta of Paniewice is depicted on the southern wall.
A frieze with an exposition of knightly coats of arms, one of the oldest heraldic displays in Poland, runs around the oratory. The history and traditions of the Cistercian order are related through Adam Swach paintings hanging in the cloisters. The same painter decorated the Abbey Hall (now library) ceiling with the personifications of the seven deadly sins. The faithful follow Christ with crosses on the other side. His self portrait – carrying a Franciscan cross and a palette and brushes – is on the bottom left.
The monastery in Ląd was added to the Register of Historical Monuments in 2009.
The Festival of Slavic and Cistercian Culture has been held in conjunction with the Poznań Archaeological Museum at the reconstructed medieval grad in Ląd for several years. The natural education centre has information on walking trails, bicycle paths and the Warta Landscape Park.
For more information:
www.lad.pl/lad_ang.html
Address:
Wyższe Seminarium Duchowne (Seminary)
Ląd 101
62-406 Lądek
Tel. +48 63 276 33 23