The Post-Cistercian Complex in Cieplice

The Post-Cistercian Complex in Cieplice is a complex of stately buildings associated with the founding of Cieplice in the 13th century and the arrival of the Cistercian order to this place in 1403. One of the most valuable complex buildings is the Baroque Church of St. John the Baptist, erected according to a design by Kaspar Jentsch after the fire of 1711, with a free-standing bell tower. In the part of the monastery building that now houses the Natural History Museum, there was the Majoracka Library until 1945, with its rich collection of the Schaffgotsch family, and the J.S. Bandtkie Library in the years 1945-1947. The monastery complex also includes one of the oldest spa buildings, the so-called "Long House", designed by Martin Urban of Lubawka in the 16th century. Next to it, there is a Neoclassical building of the 19th-century Marysieńka spring water intake. Since 1945, the monastic part of the complex has been the seat of the Piarist Order.

The Baroque Holy Trinity Column was founded by Count Johann Anton Ernst Schaffgotsch in 1724. Its author is unknown. It was located where there had used to be an old linden tree under which Gotsche Schoff had founded a parsonage for the Cistercians from Krzeszów on June 16, 1403. In the medallion put in the shrine on which the column is placed, there are hidden dates, the so-called chronograms, which commemorate the completion of the reconstruction of the Church of St. John the Baptist after the fire of 1711, as well as bringing the Cistercians from Krzeszów to Cieplice in 1403. In 1785-1786, the Baroque-Classicistic figures of St. Hubert and St. Sebastian designed by Augustyn Wagner and funded by Jan Nepomucen Schaffgotsch were placed next to the column, on its both sides.

St. Florian Column dates back to 1712. It was commissioned by Johann Anton Schaffgotsch according to a design by the sculptor Karl Schonheim; the stonework was made by Johann Franz Schroll after the entire monastery and the Cieplice centre burnt down in 1711. The column was a token of gratitude for saving the ancestral seat and was to provide protection against fire. It is stated by the inscriptions preserved on all the four walls of the column. Initially, the column was placed in the Zdrojowy Square and was moved to the premises of the Church of St. John the Baptist in 1932, when the construction of the Spa House began.

Epitaphs and tombstones of the Schaffgotsch family.Tombstones of the Schaffgotsch family date back to 1579-1624. In 1849, Count Leopold Schaffgotsch moved them from a church in Radomierz, where family members had been originally buried, to Cieplice and placed them in the wall next to the parish Church of St. John the Baptist, between the bell tower and the school.

Bell Tower Historically, it served as a church tower and an entrance gate to the monastery, as well as an observation tower and a clock tower. In the 15th century, it was probably already made of brick. In 1709-1710, it was completely rebuilt according to a design by Eliasz Scholtze from Bolesławiec, as a building square in plan, in the form of an entrance gate with a basket arch. At the beginning of the 18th century, a clock made by J. Ch. Lehman from Lubań was placed on the tower, and an observation deck was added to it. It burned down together with the Church in 1711. It was rebuilt right after the fire. During renovation works in the 19th and 20th centuries, a bell and an electric clock were placed on the tower. A free-standing bell tower of so many functions is a rare solution in Central and Eastern Europe.