Cistercian Convent in Ołobok

Ołobok, a village in the Sieroszewice municipality about 17 km east of Ostrów Wielkopolski, was home to a convent for more than six centuries – and although the site is sometimes called a Cistercian abbey, it was Cistercian nuns who lived here. The convent was founded in the early 13th century by Duke Władysław Odonic, and the sisters came from Trzebnica. Surviving today are the former convent church of St John the Evangelist with its Rococo interior, part of the convent building and a 16th-century wooden cemetery church.

History of the convent

The village, at the confluence of the Prosna, Ołobok and Gniła Barycz rivers, is recorded from 1207. A year later Archbishop Henryk Kietlicz of Gniezno consecrated Wawrzyniec as Bishop of Wrocław in the local church. Duke Władysław Odonic of Greater Poland founded the convent for Cistercian nuns from Trzebnica – sources give the years 1211–1213 – and the first, wooden church was consecrated in 1213. In the mid-14th century the nuns brought in settlers and taught local girls embroidery and needlework, and from the 16th century Ołobok grew into a local centre of textiles and straw plaiting.

By order of the Prussian king of 28 July 1796 the convent's estates were confiscated, and in 1837 the Prussian authorities dissolved the community. The nuns were allowed to live out their days on site: the last of them, Florianna Wiewiórowska, died on 28 February 1864. Most of the convent buildings were demolished in 1882.

Church of St John the Evangelist

The present church was built in the Late Gothic style around 1500, together with a brick convent. After fires in the first half of the 17th century it was rebuilt in 1695–1696, and in 1780–1788 the west front was remodelled and a tower added. Partly Gothic buttresses support the walls, and the interior, with rich carved decoration from 1779–1795, is uniformly Rococo. Of the convent, the two-storey wing adjoining the church to the north survives, along with the treasury and chapter house.

What else to see

• An 18th-century wooden bell tower – its oldest bell was donated in 1787 by Abbess Brygida Gorzeńska.
• An 18th-century convent wall on the south side of the church and a 19th-century half-timbered organist's house.
• The cemetery church of St John the Baptist – built of larch, first mentioned in 1521 and founded by the nuns; it has a late-Renaissance high altar from around 1600 and a porch from 1835. In 2019 it was thoroughly restored at a cost of about PLN 1.67 million.
• Statues of a Baroque St Lawrence and St John of Nepomuk in front of the church.

Tripto tips

• Visiting: both churches are in use; the wooden cemetery church opens mainly for the patronal feast of St John the Baptist, so contact the parish in advance to see the interior.
• Route: Ołobok lies on the Cistercian Route – combine it with other monasteries in Greater Poland.
• Time needed: a walk around both churches and the convent complex takes about an hour.