
OWIŃSKA
A village on the Warta river, situated ca. 12 km north-east of the centre of Poznań, by the road to Wągrowiec.
The cloister was endowed by the brothers Przemysł (Premislaus) and Boleslaus the Pious (Bolesław Pobożny), the Dukes of Wielkopolska, in mid-13th century. Cistercian nuns arrived in there from the Silesian hub of Trzebnica in, probably, 1252. The first church and nunnery buildings constructed around that time were made of brick. A new church building was erected according to Pompeo Ferrari’s design in 1720 to 1728. 1797 saw the Cistercian nuns’ landed estates confiscated by the Prussian authorities which eventually dissolved the cloister in 1835. A lunatic asylum was subsequently installed at the former nunnery premises, whereto an extra upper storey was added in 1874. Past 1945, a Schooling and Educational Centre for Blind Children was established at the former cloister building. Today, the temple serves as a parish church.
The baroque edifice of the Cistercian Church of Our Lady and St. John the Baptist is erected upon a square-like base. Four powerful pillars bear the nave-crowning dome with a lantern. Above the presbytery, side naves and the loft are arched vaults embellished with a polychrome painted in 1729–1730 by Adam Swach, a Franciscan monk. The church interior’s stylistically uniform baroque equipment was made in 1728–1730, probably to the design by Pompeo Ferrari.
By the church building’s south-western corner is a tower, whilst at the south, a quadrilateral cloister building, with a garth in its centre, is adjacent thereto. A wing, added in 19th century, is adjacent to the original edifice at the west. Opposite the church’s entry is a two-storey former presbytery; originally, a baroque building, it was redeveloped in 1835 to 1838. It was then that a passageway linking it to the cloister building was constructed. A residential building adjacent to the presbytery at the north was built in the former half of 19th century.
ul. Przemysława 12
62-005 Owińska
Tel. +48 61 812 65 02