Congregations of the Norbertine Sisters played an important role in social and religious life; they also attracted women from aristocratic circles. They lost their elitist character as late as in the 14th and 15th centuries due to the abandonment of asceticism and the overall decline of morality, which even led to the liquidation of some houses.

History

Imbramowice is a village on the Dłubnia River, on the edge of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. It was established in the 12th century when, known as Dłubnia, it belonged to the complex of landed estates of the monastery of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in Miechów. Later, it became private property. The bishop of Kraków, Iwo Odrowąż, and his uncle, Komes Imbram, funded a convent for Norbertine nuns, Conventus Monialium Ordinis Praemonstratensis, in the years 1223-1226. Little is known about the oldest church and convent in Imbram. It is not known what the first Norbertine temple looked like, either. They were certainly brick buildings (in the 12th and the first half of the 13th century, the Romanesque art in Poland was at its utmost), only the convent might have had wooden elements. In 1260 the Tatars looted and demolished the convent. The church and convent were rebuilt very slowly. At the beginning of the 15th century, the authorities even considered its dissolution. In 1415 Władysław Jagiełło, permitted by the Holy See, moved the sisters to Busko. They returned from there after several dozen years with new royal privileges. The convent gradually gained in importance; it expanded its landed estate and collected works of art. Most of them were consumed by a tragic fire which destroyed the Norbertine buildings in 1710. The old convent complex was damaged so badly that it was impossible to rebuild it. Thanks to the generosity of benefactors, the initiative of the Kraków canon, Dominik Lochman, who managed the reconstruction, and the wealth of the congregation, the place of worship was quickly raised from ruin. The immediate manager of the project was the abbess of the Imbramowice convent, Zofia Grothówna. After 1711 a complex modelled on the monumental Baroque projects of Rome was completed. In 1818 the congregation was dissolved by the Austrian authorities, and all its estate (several villages and farms) was taken over by the government-controlled Religious Fund. However, after several years, the partitioning authorities allowed the nuns to return to Imbramowice and even offered them a fixed salary, sufficient to sustain themselves. After the Tolerance Decree (1905), the Norbertine Sisters opened a primary school in Imbramowice in 1906, and in 1919 they started an economics school following the model from Zakopane (Kuźnice). The convent in Imbramowice was awarded a state order for assistance given to the underground fighters against the German occupier in the years 1939-1945. In 1992 the sisters regained the land once taken over by the state and the historic buildings of the former convent school, however completely devastated.

Description

The central point of the complex is the Church of Sts Peter and Paul, consecrated in 1717 by Kazimierz Łubieński, the bishop of Kraków. The convent church was designed as a single-nave structure, four-storey - compared to the two-storey buildings of the convent added to it, with a gable roof (copper sheet) over the Baroque vault. The convent is oriented to the east, so the main altar of the church faces the east, and the conventual choir area is to the west. From the west, the back wall of the choir gallery borders on a square-shaped, proportional tower rising over the convent and its other buildings. The entrance to the church is located on the side, in the north façade, in the rear part. The church is covered by a wooden roof with copper sheet. The tower, added to the west, was erected in the years 1719-1721. The designer, also of the late Baroque interior, was the respected architect Kasper Bażanka (1680?–1726). The conventual movables, including Imbramowice altars, were built under the supervisioin of A. Frączkiewicz. The entire present-day interior of the church, as well as its painted and sculptural decorations, as mentioned above, come from the mid-18th century and their themes underline and enliven the Christocentric nature of the temple. The single-nave church interior closes on the east side with the chancel with a semicircular apse. It is flanked on both sides by two pairs of wooden fluted columns with gilded capitals in the composite order. At the back of the apse, there is a gilded altar with a low altarpiece and a ciborium in the shape of the dome of St Peter’s in Rome; it occupies the dominant, central part of the main altarpiece. Behind the main altar there is an altar painting of the Good Shepherd enclosed in a rectangular arcade; it shows Jesus among a herd of sheep on a pasture. The author of this painting is the famous painter Wilhelm, known as the Italian, who cooperated with Kacper Bażanka in the reconstruction of the convent. Above the painting, in a cartouche, there is a Latin inscription, “Welcome, Eternal Giver, the Prince of Shepherds, Jesus Christ who gave life for your sheep.” While visiting the church, it is worth taking a closer look at the intricate sculptural details, the altar crosses, the beautiful stalls and confessionals. The church polychrome, made by the Italian master William and his daughter, harmonizes very well with the reminder of the décor. Restored in the 1920s, the polychrome combines allegorical scenes, the images of Christ and saints, and scenes from the history of the congregation. It is complemented by large paintings showing Norbertine saints and more. The church fires in 1863 and 1875 forced some minor repairs to be made. The convent itself connects to the church from the south. Bażanka grouped its two-storey buildings around a rectangular patio. The barrel-vaulted vestibule, cloisters, oratory and chapter house are decorated with frescoes. However, the rules of enclosure prevent access to them. In 1973 a painting was discovered inside the convent, Madonna and Child in a Flower Garland, by the Flemish painter Jan Breugel the Elder, known as Velvet Breugel. The convent complex also includes a clergy outhouse (brick, 1761), the chaplain’s house (from the beginning of the 19th century), and a brick granary from 1758-1769. The whole complex is surrounded by a brick, 18th-century fence with a gate-belfry from 1780. The funder of the convent, Iwona Odrowąż, and Canon Lochman are commemorated by monuments embedded into the walls of the chancel.

The structure can be accessed from the outside.

Author of the note Tomasz Woźniak, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Kraków 30/09/2014

Bibliography

• Kornecki M., Sztuka sakralna. Natura i kultura w krajobrazie Jury. Wydawnictwo Zarządu Zespołu Jurajskich Parków Krajobrazowych. 1993
• Pielesz M., Zabytkowe klasztory w Małopolsce. Przewodnik, Kraków 2014.
• Sobol L., Kultura klasztoru ss. Norbertanek w Imbramowicach od początków do czasów najnowszych, Imbramowice 2010
• www.imbramowice.norbertanki.org