History of the abbey

The foundation process connected with the settlement of the Cistercians in Podhale dates back to 1231-1243. The first place of residence was in Ludźmierz. The province governor of Cracow, Teodor of Gryfitów made an effort to bring the Cistercians to this town.
The foundation in Ludźmierz was probably established in 1231-1234 or 1238-1242. It is not sure which town was the mother abbey of the Ludźmierz abbey. It is said that it may be cloister in Sulejów or Jędrzejów. The monks who came here were from Jędrzejów. About 1238 first Cistercians already were in Ludźmierz, it is not know, however, how the original buildings looked like. The first endowment consisted of properties donated by Teodor and gathered before his death about 1237.
The reasons of the foundation were complicated; these were devotional reasons, private initiative of Teodor Grafita, political reasons, social-economic, colonization process, and economic activation of the Carpathian lands.
The Cistercian foundation, the same as the foundation of the nuns of the Order of St. Clare from Sącz, took part in unprecedented colonization of Podhale.
Difficult climate conditions, flooding, highland robbers' attacks, these are the reasons which made the monks move to the Valley of Stradomka. Finally, after the Tartar Invasion in 1241 the cloister was translocated to Szczyrzyc. Part of the convent left Ludźmierz between 1239 and 1243.
The original endowment was organised in distant domains and the location of the abbey was in an inhospitable, secluded, and harsh land. These conditions made it difficult to foster new urban system based on integrated and well organized manors.
The oldest authentic document that mentions Szczyrzyc and the Cistercian monks is from 1238. The resumption of the foundation was connected with the confirmation of all the donations of the already dead founder and aggregation of the goods and properties.
In 1251 Bolesław Wstydliwy confirmed the privilege from 1234 concerning the foundation of villages in Podhale. Szczyrzyc's estate included a greater part of western Podhale and spread itself towards east, to Ostrówsko and Dębno.
The process of Podhale's colonization by the Cistercians was quite slow. The real colonization started when the convent was moved to Szczyrzyc.
A document from 1254 enumerates their properties, and among them there were fields and meadows of the following villages: Dębno, Długopole, Ludźmierz, Ostrowiec, Ostrówsko and Wilczepole. They constituted germs of the oldest settlements: Dębno, Długopole, Ludźmierz, Nowy Targ, Ostrowsk and Waksmund. In 1308 Władysław Łokietek give the cloister a privilege to found villages on a so-called German law. King Kazimierz Wielki confirmed this privilege in 1333.
In the 2nd quarter of the 14th century Nowy Targ was mentioned as a town belonging to the Cistercian cloister in Szczyrzyc. On the basis of information that we have, it seems that the first foundation of the town of Nowy Targ was probably made on the law of średzko, and then there was another foundation in a different place on a magdeburgian law-and in this situation the Cistercians lost their right to the town.
When the King took over Podhale, Cistercian properties were confiscated between 1335 and 1338. Only the villages of Ludźmierz and Krauszów and a place were they founded a village of Rogoźnik were theirs.
In the 15th century the cloister concentrated on putting all the properties in one demesne of Szczyrzyc and it was the time when they gained a number of new properties.
The 16th century was the period of constant problems with managing landed properties, trails with neighbours, disputes over property rights and powers in particular estates. Many of them lasted for years and were quite boisterous.
In 1580 Abbot Edmund ? Cruce visited the Abbey and noted that all the buildings but the church, were wooden and too old. The church and the convent needed equipment and he emphasized that there were only five priests and only three of them were local.
The Cistercians from Szczyrzyc studied at Krakow Academy.
The 17th and 18th centuries are the time of wars, march-pasts, plunders, and prosperity during the rule of abbot Drohojowski who started baroque rebuilding of the abbey in 1610 and which was finished by his successor Remigiusz Łukowski about 1640. The cloister kept all its properties until 1794, that is, the moment when the last abbot Remigiusz Grzymisławski died.
After the first partition of Poland and an attempt to suppress the cloister in 1795 Austrian government confiscated a bigger part of the possessions. Szczyrzyc's properties were exchanged for Saliny in Kałusz with Count Dzieduszycki. In 1843 Czech monks came here. Without avail they tried to get back their properties. After they came back to the Czech Republic, the Polish Cistercians returned in 1848.
In 1868 the cloister repurchased a part of their properties from the hand of Countess Dzieduszycka. In 1918 Pope Benedict XV gave them back the status of an abbey. During World War II secret middle school courses took place in Szczyrzyc, and after the war there was a cloistral middle school which was closed in 1955.

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Ludźmierz today

The post-Cistercian object that has survived to these days is a church-today a Sanctuary of Mother of Jesus the Queen of Podhale.
This church from the very beginning belonged to the Cistercians. The foundation act was written out in 1234. The first, wooden church burnt down in 1796. Between 1869-1877 a new neo-gothic brick church was built here. A cult of miraculous statue of Mother of Jesus with Infant Jesus is connected with this place. It is not known how the statue came to Ludźmierz. Neither the author nor the founder is known. The historians of art believe that it may be from the beginning of the 15th century. Another thing that is left after the Cistercians is a large rococo altar from 1795 brought to the new church and founded by Father Stanisław Komierowski.

Contact:
Sanktuarium Matki Bożej Królowej Podhala
ul. Jana Pawła II 124
34-471 Ludźmierz
tel. 0048 018 265 55 27
http://www.mbludzm.pl/

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