Guide Wrocław

While wandering around Lower Silesia, we often see stone crosses. They are made of various materials, usually local, for example granite, basalt, sandstone. In total, there are over them in the entire area 400.

Most of them are crosses of reconciliation, formerly known as penance, commissioned by the murderer and placed at the crime scene. Apart from funding the cross, the killer had to meet other conditions included in the settlement with the deceased's family, like for example. making a pilgrimage, compensation for the family of the deceased, payment of the mass for his soul. Often, the rite of the murder weapon was placed on reconciliation crosses – the sword, knife, crossbow, etc..

The Kiev cross is probably not a penitential cross but … epitaph. It is the largest stone cross in Lower Silesia. It has a height 241 cm, arm span 109 cm, thickness 12 cm. The scene depicted on the cross is typical of epitaphs – in the upper part, Christ stretched on the cross, in the lower part a kneeling figure in a prayer pose. Capitalization, the Latin inscription running around the cross informs about the name of the deceased, the year of his death and includes a prayer. We learn from it, that he died, to whom the epitaph was dedicated, his name was Konrad and he died in 1357 – Unfortunately, who he was has not been established until today.

The cross is currently standing in the forest by the road – it is not known whether this is the original site of the cross, whether it has been moved here from another location. Placing at a crossroads some distance from the village may be intentional. It could serve as a specific signpost, generating a significant number of people praying for the souls of the deceased.

Location : in the forest, by the red trail, about 1 km from the village of Kijowice, gm. Bierutów, Leśnicki district, Dolnośląskie Voivodeship.

Literature : Robert Heś “Stone cross in Kijowice”, Monuments of the Old Law, May 2008, notebook 1.