One of the oldest surviving timber-framed buildings in Poland, it is a valuable testimony to the multicultural heritage of Greater Poland.

History

The village of Dzierżążno Wielkie was established in 1593 as a result of settlement processes which were taking place e.g. in the vicinity of Wieleń, led by the contemporary owner of the Wieleń estate, Piotr Czarnkowski, Chamberlain of Poznań. It was a sołtysia village, i.e. the head of the village was a sołtys. The Evangelical church was established in 1595. It was founded was Piotr Czarnkowski. In 1608, a bell cast by Joachim Karstede, a bellfounder from Stargard Szczeciński, was installed inside the church tower. The church was renovated at the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century; a porch was also added at that time. The next renovations were carried out in 1803, 1851, 1910, and 1939. After 1945, the building was taken over by the Catholic Church. The church was dedicated on 1 September 1945. A local parish was established on 21 June 1957. In c. 1960, the flooring and certain elements of the structure were replaced. Full-scale restoration works were conducted in the 1920s.

Description

The church is located in the centre of the village, on the north side of the road leading to Gieczynko. The church is surrounded by a graveyard enclosed with a plastered wall. A statue of the Virgin Mary stands atop a tall pedestal in the graveyard. The aisleless, one-nave church has a rectangular floor plan, with a chancel terminating in a semi-octagon on the east side. On its west side, there is a square tower, placed asymmetrically. On the north side of the nave, there is a small, rectangular porch, and on the south side, there is a sacristy, built on a square plan. The nave has a tall gable roof. The sacristy and the porch are covered with lower gable roofs. The entire building is dominated by a tall two-storeyed tower: the upper section is smaller than the lower section and the two levels are separated by a skirt roof. The tower features a tented roof with convexo-concave planes, topped with a small cupola with window openings.

The church is a half-timbered building with brick infills, set on stone foundations. Both the interior walls and the exterior brick infills (with the exception of the west façade infills visible on the north side of the tower) are covered with plaster. The tower has a post-and-frame structure set upon stone foundations. The sacristy has brick walls covered with plaster, painted to resemble a half-timbered structure. The tower roof and the cupola are covered with sheet metal (originally — wood shingles) and the other roofs are covered with roof tiles. Inside, there is a wooden beamed ceiling.

The exterior wall design is based on the contrast between the dark timber frame and the white, plastered brick infills. The windows and the main entrance, located in the porch on the north side, are rectangular. Above the entrance, there is a triangular fanlight. The tower walls are covered with vertically positioned weatherboards; in the upper section of the tower, there are segmental-arched windows.

Inside, there is a beamed ceiling with exposed beams; the spaces between the beams are filled with boards. A music gallery was constructed on the west side; it has a simple frame-and-panel parapet supported by profiled posts. Originally, the music gallery communicated with the side galleries, resting on similar posts.

The original fittings of the church include an altar, assembled in the modern times using older elements (including Early Baroque side decorations), a pulpit from the early 17th century, and a pipe organ casing from the 2nd half of the 19th century.

The church can be visited from the outside and — by prior appointment — also inside.

More information, including the Holy Mass schedule, is available on the website of the Koszalin-Kołobrzeg Diocese: www.koszalin.opoka.org.pl.

compiled by Krzysztof Jodłowski, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Poznan, 06-10-2014.

Bibliography

• Maluśkiewicz P., Drewniane kościoły w Wielkopolsce, Poznań 2004, s. 71-72.
• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, t. 5, z. 18: Powiat trzcianecki, Warszawa 1966, s. 4.
• Kohte J., Verzeichnis der Kunstdenkmaeler der Provinz Posen, Bd. IV, Berlin 1897, s. 182-83.