Duchy of Münsterberg
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The contemporary sanctuary of the Passion of Christ and the minor basilica is the largest and oldest church in Münsterberg, and also the oldest building in town. The church witnessed the tumultuous history of the town since its incorporation. Inside, you can find the vestiges of Münsterberg's past as the Duchy capital. The church was erected in the first half of the 13th Century; in later years, it underwent multiple extensions and remodelling. The last large-scale remodelling of the church took place in 1900 when its original Gothic style was restored. Today, the church is a towering Gothic edifice and a rare example of an intersection of a double-nave hall with a triple-nave basilica in the chancel. The oldest section of the church, dating back to 13th Century, is the northern nave of the hall (from the side of the stone tower), with a beautiful late Romanesque or, according to some scholars, early Gothic portal. In 1900, an identical portal was made above the southern nave. The chancel on the eastern side originates from the 14th and 15th Century, and the latest addition to the church is the stand-alone stone tower from the 15th Century. The side chapels were dedicated to the patrons of the church, i.e. the Blessed Virgin Mary and St George. Make a stop in the Blessed Virgin Mary chapel to admire the frescos. There are also some vestiges of the former Duchy to be found. In the southern St George chapel you can find the so-called Duke's Matroneum where the Duke and his immediate entourage would sit. On the northern wall of the chancel you can see the beautiful and very rare wooden epitaph dated ca. 1542, dedicated to Charles I of Poděbrady, the Duke of Ziębica and Oleśnica, and the Count of Kłodzko. The epitaph shows the Duke and his family: his wives and twelve children, all kneeling at the feet of Christ on Mount Olivet, with the Duke's relatives in the background. The magnificent Baroque main altar of 1703 was moved to the church from the nearby Bardo in 1716. The main altar picture, “The Angels’ Concert”, is the work of the famous Michael Willmann. Inside the church, you can also marvel at the majestic Stations of the Cross, painted with disconcerting realism by Eduard Kaempfer at the beginning of the 20th Century. There are plenty of other elements of this massive temple which deserve quiet admiration, such as the Medieval and Baroque side altars, the stone pulpit from 1595 which is the pinnacle of the 16th Century sculpture in Silesia, the epitaph of burgers and local gentry dating back mainly to the 16th and the beginning of the 17th Century, the Gothic tabernacle, or the numerous statues, the origins of which span from the Middle Ages through Baroque to the beginning of the 20th Century, and, last but not least, the Gothic crucifix in the western section of the church (under the pipe organ). Outside the church, at its northern wall and next to the stone bell tower, you can see one of the oldest Marian column in Silesia, erected in 1686. In the 1930s, a group of sculptures was placed at the foot of the tower – the Calvary, and underneath, a plaque with the names of the citizens who fell on the battlefields of World War I. The plaque is still there. In front of the church, you can see one of the oldest buildings in town, originating from the 16th Century. The former parish school, the oldest school in Münsterberg, is now a residential building.
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