Grüssau Abbey
Encyclopedia
Grüssau Abbey also known as Krzeszów Abbey refers to a historical Cistercian monastery in Krzeszów
in Lower Silesia
, and to a house of the Benedictine Order in the town of Bad Wimpfen
in Baden-Württemberg
, where the German
Grüssau community moved in 1947, after their former abbey had become Polish
.
Grüssau Abbey, a 1242 Benedictine foundation, from 1289 to 1810 was run by Cistercians, until it was secularized by the Prussian
state. Since 1919, Grüssau Abbey was again run by Benedictines, exiles from Prague
. The new location in post-war West Germany
was also referred to as Grüssau Abbey or Grüssau-Wimpfen. The site of the abbey in Krzeszów then became known as Krzeszów Abbey.
Duke Henry II the Pious
, who had been killed at the Battle of Legnica
. It was settled with Benedictine monks descending from the abbey of Opatovice
in Bohemia
. In 1289 Anna's grandson Duke Bolko I of Świdnica
again acquired the abbey's lands and gave them to the Cistercians at Henryków
, who consecrated the new Assumption of Mary
Monastery Church in 1292. In 1392 the Silesian Duchy of Świdnica was finally incorporated into the Kingdom of Bohemia
.
Grüssau Abbey was destroyed during the Hussite Wars
and again during the Thirty Years' War
, and rebuilt on both occasions. It was particularly connected with the Silesian mystic Angelus Silesius
. From 1728 on the abbey church was rebuilt in a Baroque
style, including several sculptures by Ferdinand Brokoff
as well as paintings by Petr Brandl
and Michael Willmann
. With most of Silesia, Grüssau was conquered by King Frederick II of Prussia
in 1742 and finally secularised
in 1810 during the Napoleonic Wars
. The church became a parish church and the remaining premises were used for various governmental purposes within the Prussian Province of Silesia
.
When after World War I
the German
monks of the Prague
Emaus Abbey in Czechoslovakia
were obliged to leave the city, they resettled in 1919 in the empty monastery buildings at Grüssau, then part of Weimar Germany
. It was again raised to an abbey by Pope Pius XI
in 1924, the monastery was however suspended by the Nazi government
in 1940 and the buildings seized as a detention camp. During the bombing of Berlin from 1942 on, large parts of the Berlin State Library
collection were outhoused at Grüssau Abbey.
The territory was placed under Polish administration according to the 1945 Potsdam Agreement
. Although the monastery was returned to the monks after the end of World War II
, as ethnic Germans they were expelled
from Silesia by the Polish government shortly afterwards on 12 May 1946. In 1946 a mysterious convoy called at the monastery and loaded thousands of manuscripts — autographed scores of Mozart
(¼ of his known music), Beethoven
, Bach
and other composers — and disappeared. Several volumes were restored to East Germany in 1965, the remaining Berlinka
collection at the Cracow Jagiellonian University
and its status as "looted art
" is still a matter of dispute.
In 1947 Krzeszów Abbey was resettled by Polish Benedictine nuns expelled from Lviv
.
monastery church of Saint Peter
in Bad Wimpfen, that had been abandoned since its secularisation in 1803, and became known as Kloster Bad Wimpfen. The last abbot, Laurentius Hoheisel, resigned in 1997. As the membership of the community had declined too far for it to be legally independent, it has been directed since 2001 by the abbot of Neuburg Abbey
near Heidelberg
.
By the autumn of 2006 no monks remained, the last having moved to Neuburg, although Kloster Bad Wimpfen still remains nominally a Benedictine monastery and is still a member of the Beuron Congregation within the Benedictine Confederation
. A small community (consisting at the end of 2006 of a priest and a layman) maintain the facilities as a Benedictine guest house and venue for retreats, under the management of Neuburg Abbey.
Krzeszów, Lower Silesian Voivodeship
Krzeszów is a village in the Middle Sudetes in south-western Poland. It is part of the administrative district of Gmina Kamienna Góra, within Kamienna Góra County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship .The village lies approximately south of Kamienna Góra, and south-west of the regional capital Wrocław...
in Lower Silesia
Lower Silesia
Lower Silesia ; is the northwestern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia; Upper Silesia is to the southeast.Throughout its history Lower Silesia has been under the control of the medieval Kingdom of Poland, the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy from 1526...
, and to a house of the Benedictine Order in the town of Bad Wimpfen
Bad Wimpfen
Bad Wimpfen is an historic spa town in the district of Heilbronn in the Baden-Württemberg region of southern Germany. It lies north of the city of Heilbronn, on the river Neckar.-Geography:...
in Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
, where the German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
Grüssau community moved in 1947, after their former abbey had become Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
.
Grüssau Abbey, a 1242 Benedictine foundation, from 1289 to 1810 was run by Cistercians, until it was secularized by the Prussian
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
state. Since 1919, Grüssau Abbey was again run by Benedictines, exiles from Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. The new location in post-war West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
was also referred to as Grüssau Abbey or Grüssau-Wimpfen. The site of the abbey in Krzeszów then became known as Krzeszów Abbey.
Silesia
On 8 May 1242, the monastery at Grüssau in Lower Silesia was founded by Anna of Bohemia, widow of the PiastSilesian Piasts
The Silesian Piasts were the oldest line of the Piast dynasty beginning with Władysław II the Exile, son of Bolesław III Wrymouth, Duke of Poland...
Duke Henry II the Pious
Henry II the Pious
Henry II the Pious , of the Silesian line of the Piast dynasty was Duke of Silesia at Wrocław and Duke of Kraków and thus High Duke of all Poland as well as Duke of Southern Greater Poland from 1238 until his death. During 1238–1239 he also served as a regent of two other Piast duchies: Sandomierz...
, who had been killed at the Battle of Legnica
Battle of Legnica
The Battle of Legnica , also known as the Battle of Liegnitz or Battle of Wahlstatt , was a battle between the Mongol Empire and the combined defending forces of European fighters that took place at Legnickie Pole near the city of Legnica in Silesia on 9 April 1241.A combined force of Poles,...
. It was settled with Benedictine monks descending from the abbey of Opatovice
Opatovice nad Labem
Opatovice nad Labem is a village in Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has cca 2,200 inhabitants. A large power station is located here.-External links:*...
in Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
. In 1289 Anna's grandson Duke Bolko I of Świdnica
Bolko I the Strict
Bolko I the Strict also known as the Raw or of Jawor , was a Duke of Lwówek during 1278-81 and Jawor since 1278 , sole Duke of Lwówek since 1286, Duke of Świdnica-Ziębice since 1291.He was the second son of Bolesław II the Bald, Duke of Legnica by his first wife Hedwig, daughter of...
again acquired the abbey's lands and gave them to the Cistercians at Henryków
Henryków, Lower Silesian Voivodeship
Henryków is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Ziębice, within Ząbkowice Śląskie County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Prior to 1945 it was in Germany....
, who consecrated the new Assumption of Mary
Assumption of Mary
According to the belief of Christians of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, and parts of the Anglican Communion and Continuing Anglicanism, the Assumption of Mary was the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her life...
Monastery Church in 1292. In 1392 the Silesian Duchy of Świdnica was finally incorporated into the Kingdom of Bohemia
Kingdom of Bohemia
The Kingdom of Bohemia was a country located in the region of Bohemia in Central Europe, most of whose territory is currently located in the modern-day Czech Republic. The King was Elector of Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1806, whereupon it became part of the Austrian Empire, and...
.
Grüssau Abbey was destroyed during the Hussite Wars
Hussite Wars
The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars involved the military actions against and amongst the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia in the period 1419 to circa 1434. The Hussite Wars were notable for the extensive use of early hand-held gunpowder weapons such as hand cannons...
and again during the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
, and rebuilt on both occasions. It was particularly connected with the Silesian mystic Angelus Silesius
Angelus Silesius
Angelus Silesius was a German Catholic mystic and poet.-Life:Silesius was born in Breslau , Silesia as son of Polish noble and German mother...
. From 1728 on the abbey church was rebuilt in a Baroque
Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
style, including several sculptures by Ferdinand Brokoff
Ferdinand Brokoff
Ferdinand Maxmilian Brokoff was a sculptor and carver of the Baroque era....
as well as paintings by Petr Brandl
Petr Brandl
Petr Brandl was a painter of the late Baroque, famous in his time but - due to isolation behind the Iron Curtain - rather forgotten until recently. He was of German-speaking Austrian descent in the bilingual kingdom of Bohemia...
and Michael Willmann
Michael Willmann
Michael Leopold Lukas Willmann was a German painter. The Baroque artist became known as the "Silesian Raphael".-Life:...
. With most of Silesia, Grüssau was conquered by King Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
in 1742 and finally secularised
German Mediatisation
The German Mediatisation was the series of mediatisations and secularisations that occurred in Germany between 1795 and 1814, during the latter part of the era of the French Revolution and then the Napoleonic Era....
in 1810 during the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
. The church became a parish church and the remaining premises were used for various governmental purposes within the Prussian Province of Silesia
Province of Silesia
The Province of Silesia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1815 to 1919.-Geography:The territory comprised the bulk of the former Bohemian crown land of Silesia and the County of Kladsko, which King Frederick the Great had conquered from the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th...
.
When after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
the German
Germans in Czechoslovakia (1918-1938)
From 1918 to 1938, after the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, more than 3 million ethnic Germans were living in what became the Czech lands of the newly created state of Czechoslovakia. Ethnic Germans had lived in Bohemia, a part of the Holy Roman Empire, since the 14th century , mostly in...
monks of the Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
Emaus Abbey in Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
were obliged to leave the city, they resettled in 1919 in the empty monastery buildings at Grüssau, then part of Weimar Germany
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
. It was again raised to an abbey by Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...
in 1924, the monastery was however suspended by the Nazi government
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in 1940 and the buildings seized as a detention camp. During the bombing of Berlin from 1942 on, large parts of the Berlin State Library
Berlin State Library
The Berlin State Library is a library in Berlin, Germany and a property of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.-Buildings:The State Library runs several premises, three of which are open for users, namely House 1 in Unter den Linden 8, House 2 in Potsdamer Straße 33 and the newspaper archive...
collection were outhoused at Grüssau Abbey.
The territory was placed under Polish administration according to the 1945 Potsdam Agreement
Potsdam Agreement
The Potsdam Agreement was the Allied plan of tripartite military occupation and reconstruction of Germany—referring to the German Reich with its pre-war 1937 borders including the former eastern territories—and the entire European Theatre of War territory...
. Although the monastery was returned to the monks after the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, as ethnic Germans they were expelled
Expulsion of Germans after World War II
The later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that war, saw the forced migration of millions of German nationals and ethnic Germans from various European states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war Germany and post-war Austria...
from Silesia by the Polish government shortly afterwards on 12 May 1946. In 1946 a mysterious convoy called at the monastery and loaded thousands of manuscripts — autographed scores of Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
(¼ of his known music), Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
, Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
and other composers — and disappeared. Several volumes were restored to East Germany in 1965, the remaining Berlinka
Berlinka (art collection)
The Berlinka is the Polish name for a German collection of historic material which was originally kept at the Preußische Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, the Prussian State Library at Berlin, but which is now kept in the Jagiellonian Library in Kraków....
collection at the Cracow Jagiellonian University
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world....
and its status as "looted art
Looted art
Looted art has been a consequence of looting during war, natural disaster and riot for centuries. Looting of art, archaeology and other cultural property may be an opportunistic criminal act, or may be a more organized case of unlawful or unethical pillage by the victor of a conflict."Looted art"...
" is still a matter of dispute.
In 1947 Krzeszów Abbey was resettled by Polish Benedictine nuns expelled from Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
.
Baden-Württemberg
In 1947 the expelled community under Abbot Albert Schmitt purchased the former Ritterstift (collegiate foundation or canonry) around the GothicGothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
monastery church of Saint Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
in Bad Wimpfen, that had been abandoned since its secularisation in 1803, and became known as Kloster Bad Wimpfen. The last abbot, Laurentius Hoheisel, resigned in 1997. As the membership of the community had declined too far for it to be legally independent, it has been directed since 2001 by the abbot of Neuburg Abbey
Neuburg Abbey
Neuburg Abbey near Heidelberg in Baden-Württemberg is a Benedictine monastery dedicated to Saint Bartholomew, and part of the Beuronese Congregation.-First foundation:...
near Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
.
By the autumn of 2006 no monks remained, the last having moved to Neuburg, although Kloster Bad Wimpfen still remains nominally a Benedictine monastery and is still a member of the Beuron Congregation within the Benedictine Confederation
Benedictine Confederation
The Benedictine Confederation of the Order of Saint Benedict is the international governing body of the Order of Saint Benedict.-Origin:...
. A small community (consisting at the end of 2006 of a priest and a layman) maintain the facilities as a Benedictine guest house and venue for retreats, under the management of Neuburg Abbey.