History of the structure

A wooden Evangelical church, built at the end of the 16th century, with a later frame structure tower. In the 1760s it was already in a poor technical condition. That is why the Protestants, on the initiative of Pastor Georg Freitag, started collecting funds for the construction of a new, brick church. Collecting building material, e.g. from the demolition of the ruins of the castle in Wołczyn, began in January 1766, and in July the cornerstone was laid. In order to preserve the continuity of the liturgy, the construction work was organized in an interesting way: the stone walls of the church were built around a still-used wooden prayer house. It was demolished a few years later. The first service in the new church of St. Barbara took place on 6 October 1771. It was built on a rectangular floor plan, triangularly closed from the east. A frame structure tower from 1742 was attached to it from the west. It was replaced with a brick tower in 1834. In the 19th century the church was surrounded by a cemetery, it was used until 1810.

The church owes its present shape to Hans Pölzig, who designed the reconstruction of the chancel section (1901). In the years 1928-1932 the church underwent full-scale renovation works. New mansard roofs were built at that time, and the tower was topped with a cupola. After World War II, the church was transferred to a Catholic parish as a branch and dedicated to St. Teresa. Presumably, after this change, the previous colourful interior paintings, known from photographs from the interwar period, were painted over. The last extension to the church, a southern annex, was added in the 1990s.

Description of the structure

The church is located in the centre of the town, on a square south of the Market Square. It is surrounded by a stone wall. The current shape of the building is the result of numerous transformations. The rectangular nave is adjoined on the eastern side by a narrower three-sided buttressed chancel with two annexes (1901). On the western side there is a square tower (1834) with annexes, and small square porches on the northern and southern sides. An oblong annex is added to the southern wall of the nave (end of the 20th century). The nave and the slightly lower chancel are covered with mansard roofs, and the 5-storey tower with a cupola. The elevations are partitioned by pilasters. The windows, round in the chancel and arched in the nave, have stained glass. The tower is divided by profiled cornices into storeys, the upper ones hold bells and a clock.

The single space nave and porches are vaulted with a barrel vault, the chancel is spherical. Along the nave run wooden galleries connected to the choir gallery. The modest painting decoration dates back to the 2nd half of the 20th century. The main altar was created at the beginning of the 20th century, using Baroque woodcarving details. There is a Rococo pipe organ casing in the choir gallery.

Visitor access: The church is in use. It belongs to the Roman Catholic parish of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Immaculate Conception at 2 Kościelna Str. in Wołczyn.

Author: JS, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Opole, 09.2015

Bibliography

• Record sheet of monuments of architecture and construction, compiled by J. Szot, ROBiDZ in Opole, 2008, Archives of the Voivodeship Heritage Protection Office in Opole.
• Gawel H., Die Geschichte der Stadt Konstadt O/S im Rahmen der Geschichte der Konstädter Ländchens, Kreuzburg 1933
• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, Vol. VII: Województwo opolskie, z. k: Powiat kluczborski, compiled by T. Chrzanowski, A. Ciechanowiecki, Warsaw 1966
• Lutsch H., Verzeichnis der Kunstdenkmäler der Provinz Schlesien, Bd. 4: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Reg.-Bezirks Oppeln, Tl. 1, Breslau 1890
• Oblicza sztuki protestanckiej na Górnym Śląsku (Catalogue of the exhibition in the Silesian Museum in Katowice), Katowice 1993
• Zabytki sztuki w Polsce. Śląsk, collective work, Warsaw 2006.