History

The original wooden church was erected by Jan Głogowski at the beginning of the 14th century. The construction of the present day church commenced in 1400 and finished in 1433. Between 1560 and 1573, the building was enlarged and expanded. The nave was made longer and the apse, tower and treasury were added.

The tower was destroyed in 1737. It was rebuilt in 1914.

In 1829, a brick wall with four corner chapels was built around the church cemetery. In the 19th century, the church was renovated many times. The works were carried out, among others, by Jarosław Wojciechowski - an architect and conservator-restorer - and by the architect Kazimierz Skórewicz.

In 1940, the parish priest was arrested and the occupying authorities turned the church into a warehouse.

In 1945, the church was damaged by an exploding mine. After the war, it was rebuilt and restored many times.

Description

The church is situated on a small hill, in the south-eastern part of the village, at the fork of the roads, by the Kutno-Lubień road. From the side of the church cemetery, the church is surrounded by a brick wall, divided with plastered panels, with chapels and Stations of the Cross.

The building is representative of the late Gothic style with Renaissance elements.

It is oriented towards the east. The church has a compact, single-storey body with a two-storey tower from the west. Buttressed. It consists of a rectangular nave and a narrower and lower chancel, which adjoins the nave from the east and is terminated with an apse on a plan of a rectangle topped with a full arch. From the west, the nave is adjoined by a square tower, flanked at two corners by round turrets. At the southern elevation, there is a rectangular porch. The north-facing treasury follows a floor plan of an elongated rectangle and is connected with the sacristy. The sacristy adjoins the chance and has a square floor plan. The nave, the chancel and the southern porch are covered with gable roofs. At the eastern wall of the nave, there is a ridge turret covered with an onion-shaped cupola. The western tower is covered with a high, four-hipped roof, the apse has a conical roof, whereas over the sacristy and the treasury at the northern wall there are shed roofs.

The church was built from solid ceramic bricks laid in the Gothic pattern. It is plastered inside. The vaults are made of brick. In the nave, there are barrel vaults, in the apse - a conch vault and in the sacristy - a groin vault. The roofs have copper sheet cladding.

The church has ceramic and stone floors, as well as plank floors on joists. The windows have wooden frames and of the following type: rectangular and arched on top, loom-type, single, glazed and multi-section. The doors inside and outside are of a casing-type, two-wing, rectangular and topped with a full arch.

The elevations are not plastered. They are divided into sections by stepped buttresses. There are six buttresses at the southern wall of the nave and the chancel and another six at the northern wall. In the areas between the buttresses, there are rectangular window and door openings, each topped with a full arch. On the ground level of the tower, there is a Renaissance portal. Above it, there is a cartouche with the coat of arms of Grzymała Głogowski and the date 1573. The elevations are topped with a prominent, plastered, stepped cornice. The reveals of the window and door openings are plastered too. The gable walls of the nave, chancel and sacristy are divided by decorative panels with pinnacles.

Interior: plastered walls. The walls in the nave and in the chancel are divided by pillars. They are adorned with contemporary paintings depicting scenes of the birth and life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Christ and the Evangelists, as well as famous Poles. On the rood beam, there is a 16th-century crucifix. At the northern wall of the nave, there is a Renaissance tombstone of Jan Głogowski from 1563, which presents the benefactor lying in a knight’s outfit, in a Renaissance frame. The tombstone was funded by Paweł Głogowski and bears a signature of Joannes Piaencenn. The altars and confessionals have Baroque-style decorations.

The interiors can be visited during church services and upon prior arrangement (+48) 024 254 23 80

email: sanktuarium@glogowiec.pl, http://www.sanktuarium.glogowiec.pl/

Compiled by Agnieszka Lorenc-Karczewska, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Łódź 16 April 2019

Bibliography

• Record sheet, Parish Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, compiled by Lisińska H., 2000, Archives of the Voivodeship Heritage Authority in Łódź and the Archives of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Warsaw.
• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, Vol. 2: Województwo łódzkie, edited by Jerzy Z. Łoziński, Warszawa 1954, p. 29