Lavish stucco decoration of the presbytery has survived, dating back to the church construction period.

History

The parish was established before 1325, with the first wooden church. In 1508, the new owners of the village, the Firlej family, became patrons of the church. An interruption in the functioning of the parish, forced by Jan Firlej, a Calvinist, lasted from ca. 1557 to 1569, when the church was restored to religious use. In 1603, the construction of a new brick church started, funded by Henryk Firlej (Jan’s son), a later bishop (from 1616) and Primate of Poland (in 1624-1626). The construction was initially conducted by builder Piotr Durie, and before 1614 (date of completion of vault decorations) by builder, stuccoist and stonemason Jan (Johann) Wolf. In 1617, the church was consecrated by Bishop Henryk Firlej himself. After the fire of the roofs in 1711, a repair was carried out of the top of the facade (preserved niche with a relief), towers and interior of the church (fittings), and after the church damage in 1813-1815, the tops of the facade and the chapels and new cupolas on the towers were given classical forms. In 1875-1876, dome-shaped cupolas were replaced by neo-Baroque tented roofs of the lantern type, a column portico was added in front of the main entrance, and a treasury was built over the sacristy. Repairs were carried out in 1987-1990. In 2006, the preservation work was carried out on the stonework of openings, and in 2010-2013 on the interior.

Description

The church complex is situated on a southern plot at the former town market square between Radzyńska,. Rynek and Kocka Streets. I consists of a church within the boundaries of a cemetery surrounded by a wall, a mansionary building situated at the south-western corner of the fencing on Kocka Street, and a brick shrine at the intersection of Kocka and Rynek Streets.

The church is oriented, built of stone and brick, plastered. Built on a symmetrical plan resembling the cross, with an aisleless, three-bay body and a slightly narrower, semi-circular presbytery. The first bay is framed by a pair of shallow rectangular transept chapels, flush with a pair of square sacristies at the presbytery - the southern one with a treasury above it. A twin-tower facade with square towers on the sides of the body, with adjacent external staircases. The three-bay nave is barrel-vaulted, with lunette abutments resting directly on the Corinthian capitals of pilasters (baldachin system). Plain vault with a decorative cartouche and rosette in the soffit axis. Rood arch resting on pilasters topped with Corinthian capitals - arch soffit divided by coffer decoration with plaques inside. Identical, narrower arcades open up to the side chapels. The chapels feature cloister vaults covered with “Lublin type” grid stucco, with Corinthian pilasters in the corners. A three-bay gallery of the music choir, with groin vaults, with archivolts in arcades supported by pilasters with chamfered corners. A parapet in the form of an attic with vertical divisions. In the presbytery, the vault is covered with a grid of Lublin style stucco decorations - lunette abutments resting on Corinthian capitals.

The fittings consist of a set of late Baroque wooden altars dating back to the 1st. half of the 18th century (main and three side altars, choir stalls and confessionals (18th century), and five stone Renaissance-Mannerist portals (two in the presbytery).

A twin-tower three-axis facade with a three-zone horizontal division by means of cornices - the ground floor zone and a two-storey upper zone, integrated with the body by the cornices, and the top zone consisting of the gable and a pair of three-storey square towers raising from the church body, topped with bulbous cupolas. Vertical divisions of the facade by means of stacked pseudo-pilasters. The main entrance, framed in the central axis by a stone arcaded portal, is preceded by a four-column portico in the Tuscan style, with a twin stone-framed window above it, topped with a double arch and cornice. The stepped gable with arcaded decoration is ornamented with a blind window containing a relief of St. Stanislaus the Bishop. All tower windows are situated axially - single at the lower storeys, topped with an arch, and twin ones at the upper two storeys, with an oculus under the cornice - all in rusticated framing. Single side windows in the body, the chapels and a pair of windows in the presbytery are identical with the facade window, whereas low side windows in both sacristies and the treasury above the southern sacristy is closed with a full arch. Transept chapels framed in the corners by stacked pseudo-pilasters, topped with triangular gables. A pair of Mannerist stone blind portals in the axes of both windows in the body. Gable roofs, covered with flat sheet metal.

The mansionary building is made of brick, erected on a rectangular floor plan, of a two-bay design. Single-floor, covered with a hip roof - originally a butterfly roof with an attic. The facade is currently unplastered, without divisions, with openings in the front and back walls in five axes - originally in a four-axis arrangement with a visible annex on the southern side. The upper windows were raised at a later date.

The wall around the church cemetery with recesses on the inside.

The church is accessible from the outside at all times.

compiled by Roman Zwierzchowski, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Lublin, 9.07.2015.

Bibliography

• Łoziński Jerzy Zygmunt, Grobowe kaplice kopułowe w Polsce w l. 1520-1620, Warszawa 1973
• Miłobędzki Adam, Architektura polska XVII w., t. I, Warszawa 1980
• Str. intern.: czemierniki.parafia.info.pl/?p=main&what=9
• www.pomniki-sztuki.pl/zabytki/czemierniki/czemierniki.html