It is reminiscent of typical, provincial Gothic churches of Lesser Poland.

History

The single-nave Gothic church is built from lime quarry stone. It was probably created in the first half of the 14th century. It was referenced in the oldest St Peter’s Pence records from the years 1325-1327. It was comprised then of a chancel ending in a straight wall and a wider body. By the chancel, from the north, there was probably a sacristy. The extension of the chancel with the introduction of a semi-hexagonal ending section may be associated with the references from 1427 and 1429 on payment of the remuneration for the construction of the church in Chrzanów to a stonemason from Cracow, Mikołaj Roth. Probably at this stage of construction, the bell tower with a vestibule at the ground floor level was added from the west. In 1641, the owner of Chrzanów, Anrzej Samual Dembiński, founded his family chapel, adding it from the north to the eastern bay of the church's body. Further conversions of the architecture and fittings of the church consisted in providing it with Baroque features, and in reconstruction after fires in 1646, 1726, and 1748. A full-scale conversion from the years 1912-1914, according to a design by Stanisław Oszacki, taking into account conservation requirements, provided the church with features of Modernism and the appearance it has today. The free-standing stone bell tower, erected before the mid-18th century, was also transformed.

Description

The parish church of St Nicholas is circumscribed by stone walls originating from the 15th century. It is located near the north-western corner of the market square in Chrzanów. It is a Modernist building reminiscent of provincial Gothic churches of Lesser Poland, with the original Gothic chancel with a sacristy, and a slightly converted Baroque chapel of St Stanislaus preserved. The five-nave body with choir and the southern chapel are new. Both chapels open with arcades to the interior of the church and form a type of a transverse nave. Outside, lime stone pattern is strongly visible, inspired by the material used for the construction of the Gothic chancel. The appearance of walls along with buttresses accentuating individual bays, brick gables and blind windows partitioning them, ceramic roof cladding and a slender steeple turret situated at the intersection of the body with pseudo-transept, is a visible reference to native sacred architecture. Homeliness and picturesqueness - dominant features defining the façade, body, and view to the church - are at the same time characteristic Young Poland features. The most valuable elements of the fittings include the main altar designed by Franciszek Urbańczyk from 1882, with late Baroque sculptures transferred from the Cracow Saint Mary's church, and a Baroque altar from Dębnik marble from the mid- 17th century, brought in 1824 from Czerna.

The monument is open to visitors.

compiled by Tomasz Woźniak, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Krakow, 07-08-2014.

Bibliography

• Chrzanowski T., Kornecki M., Sztuka Ziemi Krakowskiej, Kraków 1982
• Dyba O., Majka M., Zabytki architektury i budownictwa w Polsce, t.18, cz.2, Województwo krakowskie, Warszawa 1995
• Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, t. I, Województwo krakowskie , z. 4, Powiat chrzanowski, Warszawa 1952
• Krasnowolski B., Leksykon zabytków architektury Małopolski, Warszawa 2013
• Krasnowolski B., Zabytki i wartości kulturowe, [w:] Muzeum w Chrzanowie (red.), Chrzanów, Studia z dziejów miasta, t. 2, Chrzanów współczesny, cz. 1, Chrzanów 1999