POST-CISTERCIAN MONASTERY COMPLEX IN JEMIELNICA

The history of the Cistercian Abbey Foundation Monastery Complex in Jemielnica, located on the Cistercian Trail, dates back to the 13th century. The buildings include: the monastery and convent house – now the rectory, the prelature – the abbot's house, now the Caritas and parish office, a former mill, a granary and fish ponds. The parish church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. James, the cemetery church of

All Saints and three wings of the monastery building remain to this day. The interior of the original church, richly decorated in Regency and Rococo styles, is an absolute gem. It houses, among others, a two-story main altar of 1734, 12 breathtaking

Baroque side altars and numerous 18th- and 19th-century sculptures and paintings. In the cemetery church, the fragments of 15th-century polychrome in the chancel are particularly noteworthy. Adjacent to the former prelature building is a circular tower that housed a solitary confinement cell for

wayward monks. Inside the monasteries, there was a square called the "viridarium," the center of which was occupied by a 16th-century well. The outbuildings are located west of the church and monastery. They included a mill, a brewery with a bakery, apartments for servants and a granary. The entire complex, including the monastery, presents a beautiful reflection of the Cistercian heritage and entrepreneurship. The former brewery houses the Tourist Information Point, where tourists can admire the beauty of the building. The former granary currently houses an exhibition, "From Sowing the Seed to Bread on the Table," reflecting the site and its history. The entire complex is an ideal tourist attraction! The Cistercian Monastery Complex in Jemielnica received a distinction in the competition for the Best Tourist Product of the Opolskie Voivodship, the OROT 2022 Certificate.