Franciscan Monastery Complex in Chęciny

Among the monastery walls you will find greenery, peace and quiet, which will help you gain strength to continue exploring the city.

However, it was not always so quiet here ... The history of this facility is quite turbulent and full of unexpected twists. It begins classically when King Casimir the Great founds a monastery in Chęciny and brings the monks there. They leave it at the end of the 16th century, when the buildings are taken over by infidels for the needs of the congregation. The monastery was returned to the monks a few years later. However, they did not have to enjoy the peace for long.

In the 17th century their estate was destroyed by the Rakoczy invasion. Monks, are supported by the starost of Chęciny, Stefan Bidziński, are patiently rebuilding the monastery. Another blow comes in the nineteenth century, when the monastery ceased to exist by a decree of the authorities of the Kingdom of Poland. The deserted buildings were turned into a prison, into which participants of the pro-independence uprising were also thrown. In the 20th century, the building served as a school and court, and after World War II - also as a stone-cutter and butcher's shop. In the 1960s the church was changed into a restaurant and the monastery buildings into a hotel.

The Franciscans regained the monastery in Chęciny only in 1991. Since then, they have been inviting tourists to visit the monastery, which, despite such an unusual history, has retained its sacred character. Here you can visit the courtyard surrounded by 17th-century walls, the church, which is the oldest part of the entire complex, the atmospheric monastery cloisters and the chapel of St. Leonard. The latter is covered with an interesting dome with intricate sculptural decoration. The chapel is the work of Kacper Fodyga - architect and artist of Italian origin of merit for Chęciny.