Collegiate Church of the Assumption in Kłodzko

Legend says it all began with a vision. Young Arnošt of Pardubice, a pupil at the Knights Hospitaller school in Kłodzko, saw the statue of the Virgin on the altar come to life and turn her back on him. He took it as a warning, went on to become the first Archbishop of Prague, and left large sums in his will to build a new church. The result is the Collegiate Church of the Assumption – a Gothic basilica in the middle of Kłodzko's old town with one of the richest Baroque interiors in Lower Silesia.

Two centuries of building

A church here was first mentioned in 1183, and in 1194 the parish was given to the Knights Hospitaller. The foundation stone of today's church was laid in 1344, but work moved slowly: the Hussite Wars halted building for over a decade, and it resumed only after 1458. By 1468 the nave and the southern White Tower – bearing a Maltese cross and the date 1465 – were complete, while the lower northern Black Tower went up between 1487 and about 1522. The masonry vault over the nave was only added in the mid-16th century.

In 1624 the church passed to the Jesuits, who remodelled the interior in Baroque style; apart from a break after the order was dissolved, they are still here today. On 15 August 2016 the church was raised to the rank of collegiate church. It is huge: the nave is 53.65 m long inside, and its axis is turned a full 41° from the traditional east-west orientation because the square slopes away to the north-east.

What to see

• The high altar of 1727–1729 with the Gothic statue of the Kłodzko Madonna from the mid-15th century, carved in cedar wood.
• The pulpit, confessionals and organ case by Michael Klahr the Elder, the outstanding Silesian Baroque sculptor linked with Kłodzko.
• Busts of the town's 14 patron saints between the galleries and stucco figures of the 12 apostles from 1680.
• Two tombs of Arnošt of Pardubice – the original from the late 14th century and a white marble monument of the kneeling archbishop from 1864.
• The Garden of Gethsemane chapel of 1520 with a Renaissance group of Judas and the soldiers.
• The late Gothic font of 1517 with the founder's arms, the Hospitaller cross and the Luxembourg lion.

Interesting facts

The archbishop is said to have foretold that his tomb would fall apart without any human hand – and, the story goes, it did. Another legend claims that miraculous oil flowed from the grave and local people gathered it with spoons. The two towers hold five bells, the largest from 1499, but they have been silent for years because of their poor condition. Under the floor of the north aisle lies the crypt of the Dukes of Ziębice, whose remains were moved here in 1558.

Tripto tip

Allow 45–60 minutes for the interior, ideally outside Mass times; check opening hours with the parish before you go. On the north side stands the Black Gate, the only surviving part of the wall of the old churchyard. The church is on Plac Kościelny, a few minutes from the market square, so it is easy to combine with the Underground Tourist Route, the Gothic St John's Bridge and Kłodzko Fortress.