The main decorative element of the austere and simple church consists of the three triangular stepped gables (above the chancel, between the chancel and the nave, above the nave on the western side).

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 first Franciscans likely came to Chełmno around 1255, with the first mentions of a monastery in written records dating back to 1258. The construction of a church began in the late 13th century and was continue in the 14th century. It was completed, inter alia, owing to the generous bequests to this convent from Adelajda Ullmann, a townswoman from Chełmno.

The church was built in four stages: the first one (3rd quarter of the 13th century) covered the construction of the peripheral walls of the body, which most likely followed a hall church layout; the second one (late 13th century–early 14th century) covered  the conversion into a pseudo-basilica with narrow side aisles; the third one (after 1326) consisted in the addition of the current chancel together with a sacristy (replacing the original chancel from the 2nd half of the 13th century); during the fourth stage (3rd quarter of the 14th century), the body was equipped with ceilings once again and the western gable and a tower above the sacristy were added; c. 1346, the church was consecrated by Otton, a bishop of Chełmno.

In 1739, the wall paintings were created, with a chapel which has not been preserved being added in 1751. In 1806, the convent was dissolved; it was decided that the church would be handed over to the Daughters of Charity, who soon moved to the former Cistercian complex. When they left, the once lavish décor was moved to other churches. From 1859 onwards, the church was used as an Evangelical school church. From the north, the chancel and the nave were adjoined by a complex of monastery buildings, which were completely demolished after the dissolution of the monastery. In recent years, renovation and conservation works were carried out in the church (they included replacement of the chancel and tower roof, restoration of the stained glass in the eastern window of the chancel; moreover, painted decorations were found on walls of the chancel and the nave body). Currently, it is a rectoral church which serves schoolchildren.

Description

The Church of Sts James the Greater and Nicholas is situated in the north-western part of the Chełmno old town complex, within the block of buildings demarcated by Biskupia Street, Klasztorna Street, Dominikańska Street and Franciszkańska Street. The body of the Gothic, oriented church has a three-bay, three-aisle (with narrow side aisles) rectangular floor plan, is supported by buttresses and adjoined from the east by a narrower, rectangular three-bay chancel supported by buttresses.

Near the southern corner of the nave and the chancel, there is a square tower with a sacristy on the ground floor, which has an octagonal top section above the main body level. A cylindrical staircase tower adjoins the second easternmost buttress supporting the northern aisle.

The slender pseudo-basilica form is emphasised by the steeply pitched roofs with varied ridges and the octagonal tower spire.

The church is made of brick laid in the monk bond, with the interior covered with plaster. The nave features stellar vaults (3rd quarter of the 14th century) and the chancel features cross-rib vaulting (after 1326) with profiled ribs which flow into supporting ribs, with four-armed stellar vaults in the aisles and a groin vault in the sacristy.

The church is flanked with buttresses on the outside: these are two-stepped by the chancel and partially by the northern aisle and single-stepped by the southern wall of the main body, with impressive slanting buttresses by the west façade, likely from the turn of the 19th century.

The west façade features a tall window which is partially bricked-up at the bottom, is topped with a triangular gable separated by a plastered band and comprises two sections: the bottom one likely dates back to the turn of the 14th century while the top one dates back to the 3rd quarter of the 14th century and has eight axes with slanted lesenes terminating in pinnacles which are topped with small pyramids.

The side façades of the body have three axes; the northern wall features a bricked-up window and door opening on the central axis; the eastern buttress (of the northern aisle) features a pointed-arch passage. The southern wall features the main entrance portal from the 2nd quarter of the 14th century, which is four-stepped, lavishly profiled and constructed using hand-made brick. The eastern gable of the main body (between the chancel and the nave) is triangular in shape and partitioned by seven lesenes which are positioned at an angle and terminate in pinnacles topped with small pyramids; in the sections between the lesenes, there are pointed-arch blind windows. 

The external façades of the chancel have three axes and feature bipartite windows with trefoil and quatrefoil traceries; from the east, the windows are quadripartite with lavish neo-Gothic traceries (1867). The bell tower has seven storeys and is smooth at the bottom; above the crowning cornice, it becomes an octagon partitioned by band friezes, and the individual storeys are adorned with pointed-arch blind windows, with every other one housing twin windows.

The eastern wall of the chancel is topped with a triangular gable with five pinnacles, which is separated by a berm and partitioned by four pointed-arch blind windows, with the middle two windows being much taller than the outermost two; it also features attic windows which are topped with dual arches and rest upon stone corbels.

The articulation inside consists arcades between the aisles, which rest on square chamfered pillars; in the nave, there are spandrel walls above the arcades, featuring wide pointed-arch blind windows in surrounds made of profiled brick.

In the chancel, the keystones in the vaulting feature lavish sculptural decorations, with a relief bust of Christ and the symbols of the four Evangelists. The modest interior décor is mainly neo-Gothic in style and dates back to the turn of the 20th century (main altarpiece, pulpit, pews, confessionals and choir gallery). The pipe organ was built in 1910 by Paul B. Voelkner, a master organ builder from Bydgoszcz. The current painted interior decorations created by W. Blaue date back to the first half of the 20th century. Another notable feature is the neo-Gothic stained glass in the eastern window of the chancel, which was funded in 1867 by Wojciech Łożyński, the headmaster of a local lower secondary school.

Limited access to the building. The building can be viewed from the outside.

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

Bibliography

• Chrzanowski T., Kornecki M., Chełmno, 1991, pp. 130-139
• Diecezja toruńska. Historia i teraźniejszość, Stanisław Kardasz (ed.), Vol. 4, Dekanat chełmiński, Toruń 1996, pp. 69-72
• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, Vol. XI: Dawne województwo bydgoskie, issue 4: Dawny powiat chełmiński, Tadeusz Chrzanowski and Marian Kornecki (eds.), Warszawa 1976, pp. 31-34