It was built between 1733 and 1748 and is an example of Baroque sacral architecture, with its structure having been preserved intact.

History

The first wooden chapel dedicated to Saint Anthony was built in Łagiewniki in 1676. This date should be regarded as the beginning of the Franciscans’ stay in this place. In 1683, a wooden church and a monastery were built in Łagiewniki. On 29 August, the church was consecrated under the invocation of the Holy Trinity, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, St. Anthony of Padua and St. John the Baptist. In the years 1702-1723, a brick temple was built in place of the wooden church. It was consecrated by Primate Teodor Potocki, the Archbishop of Gniezno, on 16 May 1723. In 1733, the construction of a monastery began. Funds for this purpose were donated by Konstancja Sobieska-Denhoff, née Kossakowska. The monks moved into the newly erected building at the end of 1748. Łagiewniki was one of the most famous shrines of St. Anthony in the Kingdom of Poland. Pilgrims came here from Pomerania, Silesia and even from Bohemia and Moravia. After the January Uprising, the monastery was dissolved (8 November 1864). The Franciscans returned to Łagiewniki after the First World War, in 1918. The monastery building housed a municipal office, a police station and a school then and it took a long time to recover the building. The confiscated land, on the other hand, was never returned to the Franciscans. Instead, they bought several hectares of land in the immediate vicinity from the owner of the Łagiewniki estate, Mr. Heinzl. There, they set up a garden and an orchard.

During the Second World War, the Franciscans were ordered to leave the monastery. In February 1940, the Germans turned the church into a warehouse. Some time later, they set up a military equipment repair workshop at the monastery. In 1941, three wooden chapels were demolished: of St. Valentine, of Our Lady of the Angels and the house of Blessed Father Rafał. In 1943, the Chapel of the Transfiguration was pulled down too. When the war ended, the Franciscans, who had been in hiding in the area, returned to the monastery. Apart from St. Anthony, the Łagiewniki Sanctuary has another patron - Father Rafał Chyliński (1694-1741), who stayed at the monastery in the years 1728-1736 and 1738-1741. He was buried in the church crypt.

Description

The two-storey monastery building adjoins the church from the south. It was built on a floor plan of a quadrangle, with an internal square atrium. The particular wings of the monastery buildings are covered with gabled roofs clad with sheet copper, supported on collar beam roof trusses. The main entrance was situated in the northern part of the western elevation. The door opening topped with a segmental arch is flanked by smoothly plastered pilasters with stepped capitals and profiled high bases. The whole is topped with a simple, stepped jerkin head. A square four-storey tower was built atop the sloping surfaces of the roof, in the central part of the western wing. The tower has a four-hipped roof with copper sheet cladding. The front elevation of the western wing is flanked by two shallow avant-corpses. The ground floor follows a two-bay layout. The inner bay serves as a passage connecting different parts of the building. The outer bay contains the sacristy, refectory, kitchen and cells for the monks. The first floor follows a two-and-a-half bay layout. In the inner part, there is a corridor, whereas the monastery cells are located in the inner bay and in the part facing the atrium.

In the monastery corridors, the floor and stairs are covered with terrazzo tiles. The cells have wooden parquet flooring. Over the passages, there are groin vaults.

The monastery may be viewed from outside.

Compiled by Patrycja Podgarbi 25 September 2019

Bibliography

• Maćkowiak T., Łódzkie Łagiewniki, Łódź, 1986
• Grabowski G., Pamiątka z Łagiewniki i nowenny do św. Antoniego, Warszawa 1913
• Mielczarek P., Sanktuarium św. Antoniego w Łagiewnikach, Niepokalanów 1996
• Mielczarek P., Łagiewniki kościół i klasztor franciszkanów, Niepokalanów 1995
• Piasecki J., Opisanie kościołów i klasztorów księży franciszkanów prowincji polskiej, in: Pamiętnik religijno- moralny, Warszawa 1844, Vol. VII
• Gliński I., Z Łagiewnik, Przegląd Katolicki, 1895, no. 8
• Rowiński W., Łagiewniki, Tygodnik Ilustrowany, 1896, no. 8 
• Kłosy 1872 no. 368 vol. XV
• Kaplice w Łagiewnickim lesie, dzieje, badania i prace konserwatorskie, Łódź 2007
• Warszawa J., Record sheet of monuments of architecture, Monastery complex of the Franciscan Fathers, Łódź 1984