OPOLE CATHEDRAL

The monumental Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, whose origins date back to 1002, when Bolesław Chrobry built the first church there. In 1024, Bishop Clement of Wrocław transferred the relics of the Holy Cross to it. The Opole Cathedral parish is one of the few in Poland that holds these relics. The brick basilica was built in the late Romanesque style near the end of the 13th century. Between 1899 and 1900, it gained two 73-meter-high towers. Inside the church, the following items deserve special attention: a Gothic painting of Our Lady of Opole from around 1480, a late Gothic triptych from 1519, and a baptismal font from the mid-15th century with the city's coat of arms, as well as the Piast Chapel with the tombstone of Prince John II the Good from 1532, and the late Mannerist pulpit from 1653.

Outside, the bronze gates of the temple, funded in 1997 on the thousandth anniversary of St. Adalbert's death and on the occasion of the 700th anniversary of the parish, are particularly worth noting. They show Biblical figures, as well as those related to the history of the church, Poland and the city of Opole.