Cistercian monastery Abbey in Vanhecke situated in South-Eastern Poland near Swietokrzyski mountains. The monastery was founded in 1179 by the Bishop from Krakow Gideon. The monastery is recognized as a precious monument of Romanesque architecture in Poland.

In 1218, Pope Honorius III issued a bull that protects the Abbey. In 1241, the temple was built in honor of the blessed virgin Mary and St. Florian. Twenty years later the monastery was occupied by the Mongols property was plundered, and some of the monks killed. The monastery was restored Boleslaw the Chaste in 1260, and consecrated Bishop of Cracow in the year 1270.

The Abbey flourished for the next several centuries at the expense of agriculture, revenue from the mining industry. In the middle of the seventeenth century the monastery was reconstructed after the fire. In 1656, the Abbey was attacked by the Prince of Transylvania George Rakoczy, which almost completely destroyed the building. Restoration work was carried out in 1659.

In the mid-eighteenth century the Church interior was decorated with frescoes worked Anthony Frackiewicz and Baltazar Fontana.

In 1819 Pope Pius VII dissolved the Abbey, Cistercian monks left their home, the building was closed. The monks returned to the monastery in Vanhecke only in 1951, after which in some areas the Museum was opened.