This is an artistic import and one of the earliest surviving implemented projects of its kind. The church is now a rare example of Evangelical ecclesiastical architecture from the 1st half of 19th century, a functional and formal creation, before the return in the 2nd half of the 19th century to the historical forms and bodies of Catholic churches. The additive composition of the whole Evangelical church complex in Bystrzyca Klodzka, consisting of a church and a school, representing the urban closing of the Small Market Square, is also of significant artistic value.

History

The town of Bystrzyca Kłodzka was granted municipal rights prior to 1253. The Catholic parish was founded before 1336. In 1522 the Reformation started in the Kłodzko region and in 1564 the Protestants took over the church in Bystrzyca Kłodzka. The church was reclaimed by the Catholics in 1628. The Evangelicals emigrated or converted to Catholicism. After 1742, after Silesia and Kłodzko lands were annexed by Prussia, the evangelical communities were reestablished in those areas - first in cities, mainly from public service and military families. Later in the Kłodzko region the population of the Evangelicals increased, but their number was relatively low on the scale of region. In Bystrzyca Kłodzka the Evangelical services were celebrated first in a room at the Town Hall. An evangelical school was operated in the market house until 1810. The Evangelical church and school in Bystrzyca Kłodzka were built with the king’s support and at his expense. The design made building inspector Friedrich was presented to Karl Friedrich Schinkel who in turn made a substitute project of the entire designed complex of buildings, including also the tower incorporated into the city fortifications. The church represents the Neo-Classical style combined with the arcade style and Florentine Neo-Renaissance (rustication). In 1821-1823 an Evangelical church complex was built in Bystrzyca Kłodzka, at Small Market Square, the second town square. In 1825 the church was reconstructed after fire. The whole composed ensemble was located in the frontage of Small Market Square. The Schinkel’s design was essentially implemented - with the exception of the façade rustification, so its decor was in the Neoclassical style with arcade style elements. The church was designed as a small towerless church with a single-space interior and a small chancel apse. The front of the church was kept in the form of the facade of the municipal building, adapted to the residential development of the Small Market Square. In 1843, the Knights Tower, a relic of the city fortifications located next to the church, was converted into a bell tower. It is connected with the church by an arch overhanging the passage from the side of Wojska Polskiego Street. In 1964, the church and school were remodeled inside, combined, and adapted for exhibition purposes. In 1978, a new section of the building was erected between the church and the school. After 1945, the front façade of the church was partially redecorated. 

Description

The complex of the Evangelical church was erected in the north-eastern frontage of the Small Market Square in a serial arrangement. The church is a brick building with plastered walls, with the front-gabled against the square. It is a designed on a square floor plan and covered with a gable roof. On the eastern side there is a chancel apse added to the church body with a semi-conical roof. The church façades have windows with semicircular arches. The are divided by cornices, topped by a profiled crowning cornice. The front elevation additionally has corner rusticated lesenes, topped with a triangular gable in a profiled frame. In the façade axis there is a portal with a panel and a crowning cornice. The interior of the church is covered with faceted ceiling. Originally there was a curtain wall with a gate between the church and the school. Between the church and the Knights’ Tower-belfry a structural arch overhangs.

The site is accessible all year round.

Complied by Iwona Rybka-Ceglecka, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Wrocław, 3 December 2015.

Bibliography

• Bartnik K., Bystrzyca Kłodzka, Wrocław 1992.
• Grundmann G., Schlesien. Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Berlin 1941.
• Hultsch G., Schlesische Dorf- und Stadtkirchen, Lübeck 1977.
• Hutler-Wolandt U., Karl Friedrich Schinkel und der evangelische Kirchenbau unter besonderer Berücksichtigung Schlesien, in: Schinkel in Schlesien, bearb von Lothar Hyss, Königswinter 1995.
• Zabytki sztuki w Polsce. Śląsk (Art Monuments in Poland. Silesia), Wrocław 2006.