In its body, one can admire the lierne vaults modelled on those of St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. The two Renaissance tombstones of Fr Zbigniew Ziółkowski (d. 1553) and Stanisław Tarnowski (d. 1569) (one of the first Polish tombstones of the portal type) are equally valuable, most probably made by the workshop of Jan Michałowicz from Urzędów, one of the most eminent sculptors of the second half of the 16th century in Poland.

History

According to Jan Długosz, the first temple in Chroberz was founded by Bolesław Chrobry in 1020, but today it is believed that it was not built until the beginning of the 12th century. It was first recorded in the sources in 1325-7. The present-day church was probably erected around 1550 in its place, founded by the Sandomierz voivode Stanislaw Tarnowski, probably with the participation of Fr Zbigniew Ziółkowski. Before 1570 it was destroyed by a fire. It was quickly rebuilt thanks to the efforts of the founder’s wife, Barbara née Drzewicka, as already in 1576, the Krakow suffragan Bishop Marcin Białoszewski consecrated the building. Probably before 1598, the present wooden belfry was built next to the church (rebuilt in the 17th/19th century). Not much later, around 1606, its interior was covered with frescoes. In 1657, the church was desecrated by the “Cossacks”, but later it was expanded, as before 1664, the chapel of St. John Cantius and the sacristy were added. Probably it was not repaired in the following decades, as in 1747 it underwent thorough renovation due to the disastrous condition of the walls and roof. Further work on the church was carried out around 1783 (at that time the buttresses were repaired and the interior was plastered) and around 1791, and at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries a western porch was added to the church. The belfry was also converted at that time. The buildings of the church complex were once again thoroughly renovated in 1830, 1859-60, and in 1899, thanks to the efforts of Fr Jan Wajda, the chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary was added to the church and part of the furnishings were brought from the former Camaldolese church in Szaniec. In 1967, 1972-80, 2002-4 the church and the belfry were subjected to construction and conservation works several times.

Description

The parish church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. John Cantius (church complex) occupies an oval plot of land surrounded by a wall, located on a hill in the north-eastern part of the village. It consists of a late Gothic temple with a wooden belfry to the south-west and a former church cemetery.

The oriented one-nave church consists of a four-span body and a separate one-span chancel, closed semi-hexagonally. A low rectangular sacristy adjoins the chancel to the north. The body is adjoined by a square chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary on the south, a low, square porch on the west side, and a three-span, rectangular chapel of St. John Cantius on the south side, with a low, rectangular porch on the northern side, a treasury connected to the sacristy on the southern side. The church was made of stone, partially plastered, with some of the walls reinforced with buttresses. It is covered by roofs: a gable roof above the body with a steeple and above the other parts by a shed roof, a gable roof and a five-pitched roof. The facades of the church are modest, accentuated only by stone buttresses, a dentilled cornice and date plaques: 1550 (eastern buttress of the sacristy) and 1899 (southern gable of the chapel), and a classicist tombstone of Wojciech Doniecki (d. 1815) (southern wall of the sacristy). Two entrances to the church from the porch to the nave and the side entrances in the western façade are accentuated by stone Renaissance portals from the 3rd quarter of the 16th century. The interior is covered by vaults: barrel vaults with lunettes with overlapping ribs in a lierne layout (in the nave, keystones with coats of arms), barrel vaults with lunettes and ribs in a cross-shaped layout (in the chancel, keystones with the founders’ coats of arms), barrel vaults with lunettes (in the southern and western chapel, the sacristy), barrel vaults (in the treasury) and ceilings (in the northern and western porches). The vault and upper parts of the nave walls are covered with polychromes with floral and figural motifs, bearing the date 1606 on the rood arch; fragments of paintings from the 17th century are also found on the south wall of the chancel (the bust of Christ). The entrance from the chancel to the sacristy is accentuated by a portal from the 3 quarter of the 16th century. Inside there is a stone lavabo from the end of the 16th century and the first half of the 17th century (author unidentified, Pińczów workshop?). Among the interior furnishings of the temple, the following are noteworthy: the main altar from the 1630s-40s; the side altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary from 1729-30, most probably by Jan Eliasz and Henryk Hoffman; the tombstones of Stanisław Tarnowski from 1569 (according to the graphics by Sebastiano Serlio, made by Jan Michałowicz with the workshop) and Fr. Zbigniew Ziółkowski (died 1553, attrib. to the circle of J. Michałowicz) and “marble” epitaphs of clergymen from the second half of 17th century (the designs and authorship is unknown, workshops from Dębnik).

The former church cemetery was surrounded by a wall which served as a hill barrier; trees were planted outside along it. 

The wooden belfry is located in the area of the former church cemetery, in the fence line. It is a two-storey building on the plan of a square with a column structure, on a stone foundation. The walls are boarded vertically and the roof is tented, double-pitched, covered with shingles. 

The monument is open to visitors. The interiors may be explored upon prior arrangement with the parish priest.

Łukasz Piotr Młynarski, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Kielce, 08.04.2015 

Bibliography

• Karty ewidencyjne. Kościół parafialny p.w. Wniebowzięcia Matki Boskiej i św. Jana Kantego i dzwonnica, prepared by A. Adamczyk, Kielce 1992, Archive of the Voivodeship Monuments Inspector in Kielce and Archive of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Warsaw.
• Corpus Inscriptionum Poloniae, vol. I: Województwo kieleckie, ed. J. Szymański, vol. 4: Miechów i Pińczów wraz regionem, publ. B. Trelińska, Kielce 1983.
• Gajewski J. Prace Jana Eliasza Hoffmanna dla zakonu kamedułów, “Biuletyn Historii Sztuki” 1978, no. 3, pp. 255-276.
• Grzybkowski A., Gotycka Architektura murowana w Polsce, Warsaw 2014.
• Gryglewski P., De Sacra Antiquitate. Odwołania do przeszłości w polskiej architekturze sakralnej XVI wieku, Warsaw 2012.
• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, vol. 3: Województwo kieleckie, J. Z. Łoziński, B. Wolff (eds.), vol. 9: Powiat pińczowski, prepared by K. Kutrzebianka, J. Z. Łoziński, B. Wolff, Warsaw 1961.