We use cookies on this website to monitor statistics, control quality and functionality, and carry out marketing activities.
By disabling cookies you limit or exclude key website features such as video playback, form submission or the interactive mock-up.
You can change your browser cookie settings at any time.
Ojców Zbigniewa i Michała 1, Legnica
The Piast Mausoleum in Legnica is a Baroque burial chapel attached to the church of St John the Baptist, erected between 1677 and 1679. It was founded by Duchess Luise von Anhalt, mother of the last male representative of the Silesian line of the Piasts. The building was to commemorate the dynasty that ruled Silesia for centuries and to hold the sarcophagi of its last members.
The chapel was laid out on an octagonal plan and covered with a flat dome, with oval niches for sarcophagi set between the buttresses. The interior is filled with frescoes, gilding and Latin inscriptions, and the alabaster statues of George William and his sister draw the eye. The vault shows scenes from Piast history, among them the baptism of Mieszko I, the coronation of Bolesław the Brave and the battle of Legnica.
The last dukes of Legnica and Brzeg were Protestants of the Calvinist confession, so the mausoleum was not built as a Catholic church. The site lies in the centre of Legnica, close to other monuments of the town, and can be visited during set hours.
