Museum of Cistercian Spirituality and Culture with the Library in the Cistercian Abbey in Mogiła, Krakow
ul. Klasztorna 11, 31-979 Kraków
Tourist region: Kraków i okolice
tel. +48 667706716
The theme of the exhibition displayed at the Museum is the Cistercian spirituality and culture shown through the prism of the tangible contribution it made to the development of Europe, as well as its intangible heritage. The exhibition presents the legacy of the Cistercians both in the broad historical context of the Order as a whole and at the local level, in relation to the history of the Mogiła Abbey.
It features the most valuable works of art from the collections and the Mogiła Abbey, as well as the most valuable objects from the monastery library collection. The exhibition relies partly on multimedia, and a great attraction are the architectural models of the Cistercian buildings, which are often interactive models.
The museum rooms present in a modern way the history of the Cistercian Order in the world, but above all in Poland – especially in Mogiła, where the abbey was founded in 1222 by Bishop Iwo Odrowąż. There are presented selected books and manuscripts from the monastery's library and archives containing thousands of items collected over the centuries. In addition to objects of goldsmith's art, there are also liturgical vestments from the end of the 17th century, which according to the monastery's tradition were a gift from King John III Sobieski. The rooms of the museum also feature old technical installations for which the Cistercians were once known, such as the hypocaustic stove that was used to heat the monastery rooms with warm air passing through ducts in the floors and walls of the rooms. You can see there the canal of the enclosed Młynówka that was discovered during the research work, which runs through the abbot's house and had not only powered the equipment of the nearby mill and forges but was used to keep the monastery’s latrines clean. The museum’s exhibition concludes with the history of the cult of the Mogiła Cross and displays concerning the visit of the Holy Father, John Paul II, to Mogiła in 1979.