Churches & monasteries

Church of the Assumption in Racibórz

On the southern corner of the Racibórz market square, at Mickiewicza Street, stands the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary — the old parish church and the oldest temple in town, and one of the oldest parish churches in Upper Silesia. It is the only building in Racibórz that retains the features typical of early Gothic Silesian architecture.

From Mieszko Plątonogi onward

According to tradition the church was founded in 1205 by Duke Mieszko I Plątonogi, and built by settlers from the Netherlands — Flemings and Walloons. A fire in 1300 destroyed the original church, but a quick rebuild produced today's body: a nave with star vaults and a presbytery with unique features of early Silesian Gothic. In 1416 Duke Jan II Żelazny moved the collegiate chapter here from the castle, adding a chapter house and treasury to the south.

Interior treasures

In the presbytery stands the baroque high altar of 1656–1660 by master Salomon Steinhoff, with statues of eight saints and a figure of St Marcellus, patron of Racibórz. Inside you will also find a mid-17th-century painting of the coronation of Mary, an Assumption painted by Jan Bochenek in 1890, the 15th-century Polish Chapel with a plaque commemorating the town fire of 1574, and the 1715 tomb of provost Marcin Jerzy Korriger.

Euphemia of Racibórz

After the collegiate chapter was dissolved in 1810, the remains of Euphemia (Ofka) of Racibórz were moved to the parish church — a Piast princess who died on 17 January 1359, twice prioress of the Dominicans, credited with numerous miracles. Together with St Marcellus she is regarded as a patron of the town, and the diocese is preparing her beatification process. Destroyed in 1945, the church was rebuilt after the war and remains open to visitors and the faithful.