Crypt of the Franciscan Church

The basement of the Franciscan Monastery conceals the burial crypts of the Opole Piasts and the monks living in the monastery. They were built in the 13th century together with the monastery building. Their walls are decorated with gothic polychrome, enriched with modern paintings related to death.

The Franciscan Monastery was probably founded in the second half of the 13th century. It was funded by the Opole Piasts, who in their basements created a necropolis. The crypts are located under the chancel of the church. They consist of several rooms. During the Reformation and the religious wars were severely destroyed. The coffins of the Piasts were also devastated, and the remains were demolished. In the seventeenth century they were assembled in one sarcophagus, and the underworld was ordered.

The walls of the crypt adorn fragments of Gothic polychrome. It depicts scenes of the Passion and Crucifixion. In the twentieth century, more paintings related to the theme of death and eternal life were painted.