Collegiate Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Koronowo

Gothic monastery church of the former Cistercian abbey of Koronowo from the 13th and 14th centuries, later partly rebuilt in Baroque style. The church was built of brick in Gothic style as a three-nave basilica with a transept and two rows of chapels. The construction work was carried out in stages, so the northern row of chapels from the 14th century was done in Gothic style, while the southern row from the 17th century was done in Baroque style.

The church has very rich furnishings and architectural elements. In the chancel, two Gothic, ceramic, hooded vault supports are preserved. The outer arm of the transept is covered with fragments of a 14th century frieze made of colourful glazed ceramic tiles. The vaults are covered with rich stucco decoration.

The interior of the church has a Baroque-Rococo character. The most impressive piece of equipment is the main altar with paintings by Bartholomew Strobel. This altar was made in 1738 by the local Cistercian Alanus Chilicki. The altar is wooden, polychrome in colour, gilded, with floral motifs. It is crowned by a canopy and a statue of St Benedict the Pope. The altar contains two paintings by Bartholomew Strobel, dating from 1647: in the central part, the ‘Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary with Saints John the Evangelist and the Apostles at the tomb’, and in the upper part, the ‘Welcoming of Mary in Heaven by Christ’. The wooden, polychrome pulpit dates from the late 17th century. It is characterised by rich sculptural decoration.

Also located in the chancel are wooden stalls, two-tiered, baroque, dating from the late 17th century. Arranged on either side of the presbytery, they are decorated with bas-reliefs and thresholds in the shape of reclining lions, and are surmounted by canopies with openwork decoration. A valuable work of art is the series of ten paintings by Franz Remel from 1758 depicting events in the life of the monastery, hanging on both walls of the nave. At the end of the central nave is a wooden music choir, rococo in style from the late 18th century.