Churches & monasteries

Church of the Assumption and St. Nicholas in Giecz

In Giecz, next to one of the principal strongholds of the state of the first Piasts, stands the single-nave Romanesque church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Nicholas — a temple on the former settlement grounds, built of granite blocks, with walls 110 centimetres thick.

A stone chronicle of the beginnings

The Romanesque building of the 12th century stood on the foundations of an older temple; in the crypt one can see the remains of a stone church from the 11th century, destroyed during the Czech raid of 1039. By the eastern apse survives a Romanesque altar mensa built of seven layers of dressed stone, with a small opening which — it is believed — served as a reliquary. At the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries the church was enlarged on the old foundations, nearly doubling its size.

A double invocation and a Madonna

St. Nicholas was later added to the original Marian invocation — the double patronage holds to this day. Inside are a Late Gothic sandstone font in the form of a chalice and a wooden Late Gothic figure of the Madonna with Child.

The stronghold and the Piast trail

In the 11th century a wooden bridge about 180 m long and 6 m wide linked the settlement with the stronghold on the other side of the lake — a protected section of a long-distance trade route. Today the remains of the stronghold lie 0.4 km from the church, and the area completes the classics of the first-Piast trail: Lednica, Ostrów Lednicki and Gniezno.