This early Gothic Dominican church from 1233-1245 is among the oldest of its order in Poland, today home to a community of Ursuline sisters.
The Church of St Stanisław in Tum near Sieradz is one of the oldest Dominican churches in Poland, erected in the first half of the 13th century. The monastic complex is now inhabited by Ursuline sisters, and the building is entered in the register of monuments.
The construction is dated to 1233–1245, making it one of the oldest Dominican churches in the country. The Dominicans were brought to Sieradz in 1260 by Prince Kazimierz, son of Konrad Mazowiecki. The church became the first sanctuary in Poland dedicated to St Stanisław, Bishop and Martyr, after his canonisation in 1253.
On 20 September 1331 the church was set on fire and destroyed by the Teutonic Knights, and was rebuilt only around 1380. The next catastrophe occurred in 1693, when a major fire caused the roof to collapse. The sanctuary was rebuilt between 1701 and 1718, at which time the ceiling was lowered and the windows were changed.
The building represents early Gothic, constructed in Wendian bond, single-nave, with a presbytery narrower than the nave. The presbytery is covered by a ribbed barrel vault, and the nave by a barrel vault with lunettes supported on pilasters. During its construction, a ceramic workshop operated here, which produced decorative elements with no equivalent in other masonry buildings of Central and Eastern Europe at that time.
In this church in 1383 the election of Jadwiga as King of Poland took place, one of the more important events preceding the Polish–Lithuanian union. Since 1922 the friary has been the seat of the Congregation of Ursuline Sisters of the Dying Heart of Jesus.
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