History

The church was erected between 1779 and 1785 on the site of an earlier wooden temple. It was founded by the owner of Błaszki, Ignacy Lipski. It was destroyed by a fire two years after having been constructed. It was rebuilt in 1789. In 1810, a fence with two mortuary chapels was added.

Description

The church is situated in the central part of the town, near the Sieradz-Kalisz route. The area is surrounded by a brick fence, with the main entrance from the west.

Style/style features, information about the artistic provenance - Late Baroque.

​​​​​​​Floor plan and shape (including the type: basilica, hall-church design, etc.), functions and names/dedications/invocations of component parts of the building, e.g. chapels. The temple has the form of a basilica, it is built on a rectangular plan, with a polygonally terminated chancel.

Materials, construction techniques, structure (general)

Brick building, plastered on both sides. The walls are covered with sail vaults. It has a wooden roof truss with a queen post structure. The roof is covered with sheet metal.

The main entrance to the temple is located in the tower adjoining the western wall. The tower has three storeys and is topped with a Baroque cupola with a lantern. There are clock faces on the walls of the top storey. On each storey, there are also openings of different sizes and shapes which deliver natural light into the building. The corners are accentuated by pilasters. Particular storeys are separated by cornices. The walls of the western elevation (terminating the aisles from the west) are one-storey in height and topped with a volute wall. The southern and northern elevations are five-axial. In the upper part, the interior is illuminated by small windows. The walls of the nave are adjoined by lower aisles covered with shed roofs. In the walls of each aisle, there are five window openings and two door openings. Two windows and doors were also inserted in the eastern elevation of the aisles, adjacent to the chancel. The chancel is pentagonal and its three central walls lack any window openings.

On the ground level in the tower, there is a church porch. The westernmost part of the nave is occupied by a gallery carrying the organ. The nave (four-bay) is connected with a side section containing arcade openings. It is covered by a vault which rests on pillars flanked by double pilasters. The aisles have a length of four bays. The chancel is terminated semi-circularly and adjoins the sacristies. Above the sacristies, there are enclosed boxed seats for the church benefactors, which open into the interior through arcaded openings. The walls and vaults are covered with polychrome.

The fixtures and fittings of the temple are mostly representative of Neo-Baroque style. In the main altar, there is a painting showing the patroness of the church, Saint Anne, painted at the end of the 19th century. The Neoclassical paining of the founder of the temple has survived to this day and adorns the chancel.

The church is open all year round.

Compiled by Anna Michalska, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Łódź. 9 April 2019

Bibliography

• Ruszkowski A., Sieradz i okolice, Sieradz 2000
• Tuzin R., Błaszki i Dąbrowice w fotografii, Błaszki 2006