In the history of Bolesławiec, the 13th century was marked by some important events involving monastic orders - Dominicans were brought to the town then, as was the order of Knights of the Cross with red star. Both convents made a lasting impact on local affairs - if only for founding the hospital and sizeable libraries. The orders active today in Bolesławiec - the Sisters of St. Elisabeth and the Order of Sisters-Adorers of Christ’s Holy Blood - also play meaningful roles in the citizens’ lives. Other clergymen important for the town were the first chroniclers, describing local history. Probably the most precious source for researchers, and surely the oldest city chronicle, is the one penned by pastor F. Holstein, currently preserved at the Department of the History of Bolesławiec at the local Museum of Ceramics.

Dominicans - the begging order Former Dominican monastery, now the Rural Communal Office of Bolesławiec at Teatralna St (40)

As per the old annals, St. Dominic’s order was invited to Bolesławiec by prince Henryk Brodaty and his wife, St. Jadwiga, in 1234. The prince gave Dominicans a mill (Młyn Mnisi) next to the Nicholas Gate, as well as a forest and the farm known as Zimny Folwark. The oldest source mention on the Dominican monks of Bolesławiec comes from 1272. In 1298 the brothers were allowed to preach sermons, take confession and bury the dead in the area of Bolesławiec. A convent usually included 6 priests and 3 brothers. The monastery’s history was quite tumultuous, with serious damages done by Hussites, and the reformation period brought a temporary liquidation of the convent. Dominicans made a return to the city in 1660, building the baroque church and the monastery complex. The big fire in 1739 destroyed the monastery almost entirely, but a reconstruction followed. The final act of the Bolesławiec Dominicans came with secularisation of all the convents in Prussia (1810). The last Dominican prior in Bolesławiec was Ambrose Gottschalk. All the monastic property was auctioned, while the old annals and the precious painting of “Seven martyrs” were presented to a library in Wrocław. The St. Cross altar was moved to the southern transept in the city’s main church. Another altar and the statue of St. Dominic were given to a church in Bolesławice. Some of the convent buildings, including the church, were adapted for a protestant church, others - demolished. On 19th April, 1813, an Orthodox mass was said in the then-defunct sanctuary, at the presence of Tsar Alexander I and marshal Kutuzov. Three years later the church was torn down, and the second school building was erected in the same place. Since mid-19th century, these were the premises of a vocational school, and subsequently - the public library. Only one of the buildings has survived now, and its interior hides the city’s coat of arms of the 19th century.

The convent of St. Elisabeth’s Sisters founded by Klara Wolff in 1842 helps the poor, the ill and the elderly - an Orphanage at Kubika St (41)

St. Elisabeth’s sisters came to Bolesławiec on 14th October, 1865. The nuns first lived in the Kościelny Square, and the new monastery was only built in early 20th century. The cornerstone was placed on 13th October, 1906, and the next year saw completion of the new premises at Kubika St.

The building comprised the St. Joseph’s shelter run by the sisters, and a chapel in the western wing. In 1908 the convent bought the house at what is now 12 Komuny Paryskiej St, as a future house for deaconesses. In 1961 the communist authorities took the Orphanage away from the convent, and two years later the nuns were expelled from the house by the police and people's militia. The building returned to the sisters in 1991.

Friedrich Holstein /1546 - after 1607/

The first chronicler of Bolesławiec, whose relations have been preserved until today. Holstein was a protestant priest in his home town between 1585 and 1600, then moved to Świdnica and never came back. He enjoyed a reputation of a pious and educated man. While his original annals were not preserved, the were several copies (more than ten in the pre-war period). One of such copies is owned by the Ceramics Museum and remains among the oldest and most valuable sources on the city.

The house at 1 Zacisze St (42)

The house was a home of two respected Bolesławiec annalists: Friedrich Holstein and Remigius from St. Hiacynthus. The present house in the baroque style comes from mid-18th century and was probably created by the guild of Gottfried Zahn, the founder of the Royal Orphanage in Bolesławiec. The place then housed a shelter for the ill and poor.

The knightly convent: Knights of the cross with red star

Holy Spirit’s monastery and hospital - now the convent at Zgorzelecka St, run by the Order of Sisters-Adorers of Christ’s Holy Blood, established by blessed Maria de Mattias in 1834, delivering apostolic service (43) In the first half of the 13th century, Hospitallers of the Holy Spirit’s order erected a convent and a hospital in the town. Their task was to take care of travellers, the ill and the poor. About the year 1260 the convent was taken over by the order of Knights of the Cross with red star, brought from Bohemia in mid-13th century. They also had the care of the ill as a main vocation. The hospital worked thanks to numerous foundations from princes and bishops: the local ruler freed the convent’s property from duties, endowed the brothers with land in Bożejowice and with Bolesławice village chapel. The bishop granted them the tithe from both villages. The knights themselves possesed both a mill near Bolesławiec and more land in the village of Bolesławice. After the death of prince Konrad I, nearly all the endowments perished, and brothers turned to regular priesthood in local villages. The empty convent was bought out by the city during the reformation period, in 1569. After the order’s secularisation, the Holy Spirit’s church was demolished in 1827 and a city hospital was built on the site. Since 1924 the building hosted a senior citizens’ home, and in 1945 - shortly - a Soviet military hospital. In 1947 the premises were occupied by sisters of the Order of Adorers of Christ’s Holy Blood who came from the former Yugoslavia

The church of St. Mary of the Rosary (44)

The first mention of the Church comes from 1270, when the then-functioning chapel was endowed to the Holy Spirit’s hospital by prince Konrad I. The presbytery part of today’s building was built in the 13th century - it is then Bolesławiec’s oldest historical monument in existence. The nave and a part of the spire originate from 14th century, but were then rebuilt several times in the 15th and early 16th centuries The main altar, representing the Virgin Mary of the Rosary and St. Dominic, was moved from the Dominican convent in 1810. Walls of the sanctuary bear an interesting set of epitaph plaques to the Raussendorf family.