In 1218-1239, Italian Cistercian workshop of brother Simon built a stone abbey here modelled on Tuscan architecture. The original, Romanesque design of the monastery survived to this day.
In later years, the monastery was rebuilt several times. Visitors interested in sacral architecture can enjoy: late-Romanesque Church, built on a Latin cross plan with two-colour stone blocks; the monastery with well-preserved Romanesque interior with a beautiful chapter house which forms the unique value of the masterpieces of the Cistercians in Poland. The cloisters house the crypt of major Jan "Grim" Piwnik - the legendary commander of the Świętokrzyskie Home Army groupings, and the monastery next to the gate houses the Museum of the Cistercians created on the basis of a unique collection of memorabilia from the period of national uprisings, collected by father Colonel Walenty Ślusarczyk. The Cistercian abbey in Wąchock is one of the most important European cultural routes - the Cistercian and Romanesque Route.