Tombstones of the Silesian Piasts in the former nave of the Church of St Clare and St Hedwig on Nankiera square in Wrocław, converted into a mausoleum in 1968-1970.
The Mausoleum of the Silesian Piasts in Wrocław is housed in the Church of St Clare and St Hedwig on Nankiera square, on the grounds of the Catholic school run by the Ursuline Sisters of the Roman Union, a few hundred metres from the Market Square. It occupies the former main nave of the church, destroyed during the Second World War.
The mausoleum contains the tombstones of dukes and princesses of the Piast dynasty. Buried here, among others, are Henry III the White, Henry V the Fat and his son Henry VI the Good, the last of the Wrocław dukes. Next to them are the tombstones of over a dozen of the dukes' daughters, mostly abbesses of the convent, and the tombstone of Anne of Bohemia, a duchess who brought the Order of St Clare to Wrocław in 1257. In the pillar between the chapel and the church is placed an urn containing the heart of Carolina, the last princess of the Piast dynasty.
The tombstones and the remains of the rulers were moved within the church several times from 1700 onwards, during successive renovations. In 1857 the remains of Duchess Anne were placed in a glass sarcophagus, in 1874 the tombstones of three dukes were re-set into the floor, and towards the end of the 19th century they were covered with a new floor. They were rediscovered only after the Second World War. The destroyed main nave of the church was converted into a mausoleum in 1968-1970 under the direction of Edmund Małachowicz: a new ceiling was built at the height of the original Gothic vaults, and the church's liturgical function was moved to the less damaged side chapel.
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