The church was erected in the years 1469-77, founded by the bishop of Poznań Andrzej of Bnin. Thoroughly reconstructed in the 17th and 18th centuries; restored after the fire of 1824. The church is furnished in the late classical style. The church is surrounded by an 18th century wall with a Baroque gate from 1795.

History of the structure

Borek Wielkopolski is a town situated on the Kaliska Upland, on the left bank of Pogona River, a tributary of the Obra River. Borek was formed from a merger of two towns - Zdzież, which had municipal rights since 1392, and Borek, mentioned as a town around 1424. A private town, it belonged, among others, to the Wyskot family in the 15th century, the Bniński family in the 15th-16th centuries, the Przyjemski and the Rozdrażewski families in the 17th century, then to the Skórzewski, Sapiecha and Opaliński families. Towards the end of the 18th century, Borek belonged to the Nieświastowski family and from 1833 to the Graev family. The church of St. Stanislaus was mentioned for the first time in 1440. From 1461 it was a parish church. Originally wooden, in the years 1469-1477 it was replaced by a brick building, founded by the bishop of Poznań Andrzej of Bnin, the town’s owner. In the 17th century, St. Barbara’s Chapel was added, in 1792 the tower and a new chapel in place of the 17-century chapel, a sacristy and a porch were added, and the recessed buttresses were reconstructed. The church was destroyed by a fire in 1824 and was then thoroughly restored and rebuilt in 1853-1860. At that time a new ceiling was installed and the tower was renovated. It was consecrated in 1860 by bishop Leon Przyłuski and remained a parish church until 1869. Currently it is a filial church.

Description of the structure

The parish church of St. Stanislaus of Szczepanów is located on the south-western outskirts of the town, just by the border of Borek and Karolewo, in the vicinity of the palace and park complex, at the corner of Powstańców Wielkopolskich and Graniczna streets. It is surrounded by a wall with a church cemetery. The temple stands on a stone pedestal, is built of brick, plastered on both sides, with stone and brick buttresses. It was set on a rectangular floor plan, closed on three sides, with a pentagonal sacristy in the east, a tower on a rectangular floor plan in the west, an octagonal chapel in the south and a rectangular porch in the north. The body is fragmented with recessed buttresses. The elevations are varied with architectural details in the form of pilasters (sacristy), lesenes (chapel), window casings with keystones. The eastern gable with pairs of pilasters flanking the window opening and supporting the entablature with a segmental pediment, framed with volutes, is similar to the gable of the parish church in Zdzież. The interior is aisleless and covered with a ceiling, the chapel is covered with a cupola with a lantern.

The church has a brick main altar from 1857, late Classicist, architectural, with two gates, behind which there is an entrance to the sacristy. Two side altars, also late Classicist, come from 1860. In the side chapel there is a late Baroque altar from the end of the 18th century.

The church cemetery dates back to the 17th century, it is set on an irregular polygonal plan, surrounded by a solid wall with the main gate in the eastern part. Planted with sparse old-growth trees along the fence. Near the southwestern corner of the cemetery there is the tomb of Maksymilian Sośnicki, built after 1863 in neo-Gothic form. The late Baroque eastern gate from 1795, triaxial, in the form of a triumphal arch, flanked with lower sections of the wall topped with tracery, limited with pillars with hipped roofs, with a gate in the northern part. The main arcade with panelled decoration, framed by protruding pilasters, supports the entablature topped with an openwork balustrade with pedestals for the outer obelisks and a central rim with a skull.

The rectory building from the 3rd quarter of the 19th century, located facing Farna Street, is preceded by a flower garden, surrounded by a wrought-iron fence with brick posts topped with spheres. There is an outbuilding to the east of the rectory. The rectangular rectory is one-storey high and covered with a gable roof with plain tiles arranged in a “lace” pattern. Plastered elevations on a stone foundation, symmetric, divided into window openings with the entrance in the building axis. Architecturally developed with detailing in the form of profiled window casings, window and crowning cornice, and cornice openings. The building is surrounded by a garden on the south and east side.

Visitor access: the church may be visited during mass, www.parafianmp.com.pl

Compiled by: Beata Marzęta, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Poznań, 03.11.2017 r.

Bibliography

• Gotyckie kościoły w Wielkopolsce, Poznań 2008, p. 14
• Kasprzak K., Raszka B., Park Krajobrazowy im. Dezyderego Chłapowskiego, Poznań 2007, pp. 192-193
• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, Vol. V, z. 4, pp. 1-6.
• Kowalski J., Gotyk wielkopolski, Poznań 2010, pp. 208-209, 2015, 302
• Zgodziński B., Województwo leszczyńskie, Poznań 1989, pp. 133-135