Grüssau Abbey

Krzeszów Abbey National Heritage of Poland
Native name Polish: Opactwo Cysterskie w Krzeszowie
Basilica
Location	Poland
Coordinates	50°44′04″N 16°04′20″E / 50.73444°N 16.07222°E / 50.73444; 16.07222Coordinates: 50°44′04″N 16°04′20″E / 50.73444°N 16.07222°E / 50.73444; 16.07222
Area	Europe
Architectural style(s)	Baroque
Location of Krzeszów Abbey in Poland

Krzeszów Abbey, formerly known as Grüssau Abbey (Polish: Klasztor w Krzeszowie, German: Kloster Grüssau) refers to a historical Cistercian monastery in Grüssau, Lower Silesia, after 1945 Krzeszów, Poland. The name Grüssau Abbey, founded in 1947, refers to a house of the Benedictine Order in the town of Bad Wimpfen in Baden-Württemberg, where the German Grüssau (Krzeszów) community found refuge, after their "Kloster Grüssau" was taken over by Poland.

Kloster Grüssau (Abbey), a 1242 Benedictine foundation, from 1289 to 1810 was run by Cistercians, until it was secularized by the Prussian state. Since 1919, Kloster Grüssau was again run by Benedictines, exiles from Prague. The new location in post-war West Germany was referred to as Grüssau Abbey or Grüssau-Wimpfen. The site of the abbey in Krzeszów then became known as Krzeszów Abbey.

The original abbey is now one of Poland's official national Historic Monuments (Pomnik historii), as designated May 1, 2004, and tracked by the National Heritage Board of Poland.

On 8 May 1242, the monastery at Grüssau in Lower Silesia was founded by Anna of Bohemia, widow of the Piast Duke Henry II the Pious, who had been killed at the Battle of Legnica. It was settled with Benedictine monks descending from the abbey of Opatovice in Bohemia. In 1289 Anna's grandson Duke Bolko I of Świdnica again acquired the abbey's lands and gave them to the Cistercians at Heinrichau (Henryków), who consecrated the new Assumption of Mary Monastery Church in 1292. In 1392 the Silesian Duchy of Schweidnitz/Świdnica was incorporated into the Kingdom of Bohemia, an electorate of H.R.E. Germany.