St. John the Baptist's Church and the Seminary
Just behind the town walls, at the road from Bielska gate towards Dobrzyń, land was located referred to as Krasna Wola, which, in 1753, was offered by Maria Lasocka to the Order of Reformers. It was a grange with a garden and ruins of the Krasińskis Palace , who once used to perform in Płock the dignities of starosts and castellans. The new congregation raised objections of the mendicant orders - Dominican monks from Płock, Franciscan monks from Wyszogród and Bernardine monks from Skępe. consequently, only two years later.during an extremely solemn processions involving the clergy and the laic, a cross was set at the place of the future temple. A year later, a wooden church was consecrated, the church used to attract crowds of the faithful.
In 1771, a one-aisle late baroque temple, with the figures of Peter and Paul in the niches of the facade, was consecrated. A yard in front of the church was surrounded by a wall with the shrines of the Way of the Cross; the wall existed still in the inter-war period. The homogeneous Rococo decor of the interior, altars, ambo and confessionals, in accordance with the rule of the Reformers swearing poverty, were maintained in a natural color of oak wood with white polychromed sculptural decoration. The whole carved work was performed by monk sculptors. special attention should be paid to the main altar with an expressive crucifix. Behind it, on the first floor, there is a room, from which the monks listened to the mass, hidden before my eyes of the faithful, which proved their remarkable modesty. From 1773, it took subsequent ten years to build the monastery creating with the church a tetragon with a garth in the middle.
Patriotic attitude of the reformers was exposing them to persecution and reprisals already from the times of the Bar Confederation. in 1805, the Prussian authorities transformed the monastery into hospital, soon the building was seized by the Frenchmen, and in 1811 by the troops of Duke Radziwiłł, later on, for two years, the monks lived together with prisoners. Active participation in the January Uprising caused closing of the monastery in 1864. Three years later, to the abandoned buildings the Seminary was transferred from the confiscated former building of the Benedictine abbey.
From the dawn of time, there was in Płock a cathedral school, preparing later for the studies at the university. with the passage of time, regress of its activities occurred and on the initiative of bishops Ludwik Załuski and Seweryn Szczuka a seminary was established, run by priests missionaries of St. Vincent de Paul. The first seat from 1717 was a canonry, House under the Horns. in 1771, the Seminary was transferred to spacious buildings of the abbey abandoned by the Benedictine monks. After the first partition, the Prussian authorities meticulously controlled the course of education and even examined candidates and seminarists, collecting appropriate fees for all activities. in 1812, the buildings was seized by the army, in 1830 a Russian military hospital was located there, which resulted in complete devastation. After the fall of the January Uprising, the tsarist authorities took over the whole property of the Seminary.
In 1867, the Seminary was transferred to the adapted buildings of the Reformer's monastery. Since that time diocesan priests have been involved in teaching. in 1882, the building of the university was enlarged, and from the street a house of professors was built. in the period 1914-1916, a monumental, neo-Baroque wing of the lower seminar was added, with semi-round break, according to the design by Oskar Sosnowski. in the 1920s, another house of professors was created, designed by Stefan Szyller, and a classicistic building of the library, designed by Marian Kontkiewicz.
Until the outbreak of World War 2, the collections o the Seminary's Library in Płock, in spite of previous losses, belonged to the richest in the country. They included e.g. the book collection of the cathedral chapter, diocesan archive and books transferred from monasteries liquidated by the tsarist authorities. the most valuable included ca. 140 illuminated handwritten codes from the 12th and 13th century, ca. 300 diplomas on parchment from the 13th – 15th century, 500 incunables , total there were ca. 50 000 volumes and archives from the 16th century.
In 1939, the Seminary was seized by SS divisions, after burning a part of books, historical collections of the library were entirely brought out to Królewiec. After the war, apart from most archives, only an insignificant part of priceless treasures collected for centuries was recovered. Despite the fact that some places of storage of plundered goods are known, for instance, in the State Bavarian Library the ordinal from the end of the 12th century and 150 other manuscripts from Płock are located, but they have not been recovered until today.
In 2010, the Seminary was celebrating the Jubilee of 300 years of existence.
