Churches & monasteries

Mausoleum of the Silesian Piasts in Legnica

In the Baroque church of St John the Baptist in Legnica survives the first Baroque funerary chapel in Silesia: the Mausoleum of the Silesian Piasts of 1677–1679. It was built for the last members of the dynasty and at the same time stands as a monument to its entire history. The monument is open to visitors on tickets of the Copper Museum.

The last of the line

The starting point was the death of Duke George William. In March 1675 the fifteen-year-old duke paid homage to Emperor Leopold I and took up rule in the duchies of Legnica, Brzeg and Wołów – he reigned for barely eight months. He died on 21 November 1675 in Brzeg, and on 8 February 1676 his body was laid to rest in Legnica's church of St John. With the extinction of the Legnica-Brzeg line, Piast rule in Silesia came to an end.

The foundation of Duchess Luise

The mausoleum was funded by the prince's mother, Duchess Louise of Anhalt-Dessau. The architectural design was prepared by the Italian builder Carlo Rossi, a longtime collaborator of the Piasts on the expansion of their residence in Oława. The chapel combines architecture, sculpture and painting into a coherent iconographic programme, and its space is filled with the sarcophagi of the dukes.

From the mid-16th century the church of St John, together with the collegiate church of St Hedwig in Brzeg, served as the necropolis of the Legnica-Brzeg Piasts. The present Baroque church was built in 1714–1727; of the previous Gothic building only the presbytery was retained, and it was precisely this that was converted into the mausoleum.