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The Benedictine Abbey in Tyniec is picturesquely situated on a limestone hill on the bank of the Vistula River, today in administrative city limit of Kraków, 12-13 km off the city centre.
The Tyniec Abbey was founded in 1044 by Kazimierz Odnowiciel (Casimir the Restorer), the son and the successor of the King Mieszko II Lambert and Richeza of Lotharingia, daughter of Emperor Otto II. It was probably through her intermediation that the first monks came to Kraków from Cologne (her hometown).
The monastery played an important role in the restauration of the Polish state and Church after the pagan come back and the Czech invasion. The first abbot of Tyniec, Aron, becomed a Bishop of Cracow. He received the title of an archbishop, which suggests his responsibility for the renovation of the Church structures in the whole Poland.

In the second half of the 11th century a Romanesque monastery complex was created, including a three-aisle basilica. Very quickly it became a centre of spiritual and cultural life, but it also served as a stronghold on the outskirts of Krakow and was often put to test by enemy forces.
In the early 14th century, when Władysław Łokietek (Vladislaus the Elbow-High) fought for the throne in Krakow, Tyniec supported his cause, gaining the favour of the prince and future king. The rule of Kazimierz Wielki (Casimir III the Great) and the Jagiellonian era formed a golden period in the history of Tyniec Abbey. The late 14th and early 15th centuries are the time of ecclesiastic reform undertaken by Piotr Wysz, the Krakow Bishop. In the second half of the 15th century, Tyniec Abbey was ruled by two outstanding abbots: Maciej of Skawina and Andrzej Ożga. They deserve the credit for building the Gothic church and restructuring the monastery buildings.

The political events of the latter half of the 18th century in Poland did not omit or spare Tyniec Abbey. During the fights of the Bar Confederates, the abbey was turned into a modern fortress, whose focal point was the monastery hill, protected by a system of earthworks on the nearby hillocks. The main period of fights over Tyniec began on 20 May 1771 and went on for over a year, until the capitulation which the Confederates entered into with the Austrian troops. The ongoing warfare wreaked considerable destruction in the abbey. The war campaigns led by Napoleon Bonaparte finally brought about its decline.
On 8 September 1816, the Austrian Emperor Francis I signed a decree dissolving the abbey. In the ensuing years, the monastery furnishings, the church treasury, the library and the archives were removed from the site. Abandoned, the monastery buildings turned into ruins. The only part that remained operational was the church, where the authorities moved the parish.
The Benedictines returned to Tyniec on 30 July 1939. The rebuilding of the monastery commenced after World War II, in 1947. The difficult conditions of the post-war reality made it possible to complete the work only at the start of the 21st century. The architecture of the abbey is indicative of its long and turbulent history. Partly preserved are the Romanesque foundations dating back to the latter half of the 11th century (church) and the late 11th/early 12th centuries (parts of the monastery, including the wall of the Romanesque church and the portal seen from the cloister). The cloistered walkways and the main part of the church (the uncovered Gothic windows in the presbytery and fragments of the portal) date back to the latter half of the 15th century. The decoration of the church is primarily the outcome of the 17th-century redevelopment while much of its furnishings date back to the mid-18th century (large altar, pulpit, side chapels).