the Thirty Years' War and the Seven Years' War. The triumph of the Baroque architecture in Silesia was closely connected to the rise of the House of Habsburg and the Counter-Reformation, whereas its decline was marked by the import of Classicism by Prussia, the new owner of Silesia after the Seven Years' War. The religious antagonism of Protestantism and Catholicism led to a sharp contrast of a conservative Protestant Baroque which was in the defence and a vanguard and rousing Catholic Baroque which was in the offensive. The ban to build Protestant churches and the saturation of the region with secular architecture resulted in a decline of building projects. As a consequence most Baroque palaces of the 17th and 18th century were alterations of existing structures. The destruction of the secular courtly culture by the new Polish owners after 1945 led to a widespread deterioration of palaces in Silesia, and today's remaining palaces and holdovers in museums give only a distorted impression of the Baroque era in Silesia. Important patrons of the Baroque architecture were two bishops from Breslau: Frederick of Hesse-Darmstadt and Franz Ludwig von Pfalz-Neuburg. During their 50-year incumbency both initiated numerous artistic projects and supported a large array of artists. Cistercian monasteries with their large possession acted as important intellectual and artistic centers, and Cistercian abbots used the arts as an instrument to manifest their prince-like status. They created the conditions for a collaboration of the two workshops of Michael Willmann and Matthias Steinl, which was of pan-European importance. The Jesuits as the main supporters of the imperial Counter-Reformation enriched mainly the civic centers with their buildings, much to the aversion of the Protestant society. They were responsible for the spread of basilicas modeled after Il Gisu, stylistic vocabulary of the Bohemian Dientzenhofer family and the baroque theatricalism found for instance at Leopoldina university in Breslau. Artistically very active were also the Premonstratensians, Augustinians, Franciscans and the Benedictines, the latter being responsible for the church at Wahlstatt (Legnickie Pole) near Liegnitz, an outstanding architectural monument and one of the most famous symbols of the triumph of the church against nonbelievers. The privileged higher Catholic nobility, often immigrated, at that time laid the base for large possessions, whereas the Protestant bourgeoisie lost its role as a patron of the architecture and compensated this loss with outstanding achievements in literature, music and science. Characteristic for the baroque era in