The main decoration of the church is its façade, crowned with a lavishly decorated stepped gable dated at the third quarter of the 14th century, which is densely partitioned by angled lesenes with pinnacles and wide friezes.

The site is located in an area designated as a monument of history:

Chełmno – Old Town – recognised as a Monument of History by  way of Ordinance of the President of the Republic of Poland dated 13 April 2005 (Dz. U. [Polish Journal of Laws] No. 64 of 2005, item 568).

History

The Church of Sts Peter and Paul was initially owned by the Dominicans and in the years 1829-1945 it was handed over to the local Evangelical community. It was built in several phases: there are remnants of walls from c. 1240-1250, which have been absorbed into the current neo-Gothic western porch; there is a surviving northern wall of the eastern bay of the chancel from the 3rd quarter of the 13th century; the current chancel was built from the 4th quarter of the 13th century until the early 14th century; in the 1st half of the 14th century, a two-aisle, asymmetrical main body was erected; likely in the 3rd quarter of the 14th century, the main body was redesigned to have three aisles; in the 2nd half of the 17th century, the walls of the nave were extended upwards and the main body was transformed into a basilica.

In the second half of the 18th century, the church interior received a new décor, with the majority of the fixtures and fittings being transferred to nearby churches after the dissolution of the Dominican monastery in 1829.

From the dissolution of the monastery until 1945, the church was used by the local Evangelical community, to whose needs it was adapted in 1841, and in addition partially redesigned and renovated in 1882 and 1892. Used by the Evangelical community until 1945, it currently serves as a filial church in the parish of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Chełmno.

In recent years, renovation and conservation works were carried out in the church under the project titled Revitalisation of the monuments of the town of Chełmno (which included works connected with adaptation of the church for the purposes of the Museum of Sacred Art in the Chełmno Land). The church also serves cultural purposes: it is a place where exhibitions as well as concerts of classical and religious music are organised.

Description

The Church of Sts Peter and Paul is situated in the north-eastern part of the Chełmno old town complex, within the block of buildings demarcated by Wodna Street, Kościelna Street and town walls.

The body of the Gothic, oriented church has a four-bay rectangular floor plan. The church currently has the layout of a basilica, with aisles of unequal width (the northern one being much narrower). From the east, there is an elongated three-bay chancel with semi-decagonal termination.

The chancel is adjoined by annexes: a neo-Gothic chapel and sacristy from the south (added in 1882). From the north, there is a staircase tower next to the first buttress from the east. The western façade of the main body is adjoined by a rectangular neo-Gothic porch with a belfry on the first floor (1872); from the south, it is adjoined by a cylindrical staircase tower.

The main body and the chancel are covered with gable roofs with a single ridge with a three-sided section from the east, clad with roof tiles, while the aisles and the annexes are covered with mono-pitched roofs from the south and clad with sheet metal.

The church is made of brick laid in the monk bond, with the foundation of the western wall partially made of stone and the interior covered with plaster. The chancel is covered with ribbed groin vaults, with a stellar vault in the central bay. The nave features double barrel vaults supported by arches while the aisles feature double barrel vaults from the south and segmental barrel vaults from the north.  The chapel and the sacristy feature cross-rib vaulting.

The window and door openings and decorative blind windows are topped with pointed arches, the chancel features windows with neo-Gothic traceries, and in the blind window in the end section of the chancel there are double brick traceries topped with a rose window (from the 3rd quarter of the 13th century).

The spandrel walls of the nave feature windows with splayed reveals topped with a basket-handle arch.

The church is flanked with buttresses on the outside, with the corner buttresses from the west featuring rhomboid decorations using overburnt brick.

The northern wall of the nave body and the chancel features visible traces of alterations, showing the area of the demolished monastery buildings.

The middle section of the west façade is obscured by the porch, over which a neo-Gothic belfry was added, topped with a triangular gable mirroring the articulation of the gable over the main body. At the southern junction between the porch and the main body, there is a staircase tower. The Gothic four-stepped entrance portal, topped with a pointed arch and constructed using hand-made brick, is obscured by the added porch.

The façade gable is stepped and partitioned by slanted lesenes terminating in pinnacles topped with small pyramids; between the lesenes, there are narrow sections with slender pointed-arch blind windows; the entire gable is partitioned horizontally by five plastered friezes.

The north façade of the body has four axes; in the upper section constituting the wall of the nave the axes are marked by low window openings with basket-handle arches.

The wall of the aisle features a bricked-up two-stepped portal from the first quarter of the 14th century and two pointed-arch window openings.

In the upper section, the south façade of the body is similar to the north façade; in the lower section, it has six axes and features a bricked-up portal from the second half of the 14th century in a rectangular niche. The south façades of the annexes adjoining the chancel are topped with neo-Gothic pseudo-battlements.

Inside the church, the nave is separated from the aisles by arcades which are topped with semi-circular arches with a slightly lower rise and rest on square pillars adorned with pilasters from the nave (which were added during the Baroque redesign); there are preserved fragments of Gothic painted decorations, e.g. depicting the Crucifixion (late 14th century).

Notable fixtures and fittings include the Rococo main altarpiece from the second half of the 18th century with symbolic 7-column structure and a sculpture of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the globe (modelled on the main altarpiece of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Toruń). There is also a limestone Gothic tombstone of Heidenryk, bishop of Chełmno, from the 13th/14th century.

Other fixtures and fittings include the epitaph plaque of Helena Dobrska, née Czapska, from the 17th century, the Baroque baptismal font and the Rococo pulpit.

Limited access to the building. The building can be viewed from the outside. Interiors of the church can explored during masses (on Days of the Cross, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul) and cultural events.

Prepared by Marzenna Stocka, National Heritage Board of Poland, Regional Branch in Toruń 23-11-2017

Bibliography

• Chrzanowski T., Kornecki M., Chełmno, 1991, pp. 119-129
• Diecezja toruńska. Historia i teraźniejszość, Stanisław Kardasz (ed.), Vol. 4, Dekanat chełmiński, Toruń 1996, pp. 78-82
• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, Vol. XI: Województwo bydgoskie, issue 4: Powiat chełmiński, Tadeusz Chrzanowski and Marian Kornecki (eds.), Warszawa 1976, pp. 26-30