The temple, closely connected with the history of the royal town of Kazimierz in the Middle Ages, a place of provincial assemblies and a monastic centre, is a testimony to the rich history of the town and the piety and patriotism of its inhabitants.

History of the structure

The royal town of Koło was founded under Magdeburg Law in 1362 by Casimir the Great. In addition to the parish church existing since the 13th century, a Bernardine monastery was founded in the town in 1456 by the starost of Koło, Jan Hińcza of Rogów, which was rebuilt together with the church in Baroque style and consecrated in 1788 after being destroyed by the floods of the Warta River. From the 15th century until 1716 general assemblies of the Province of Wielkopolska gathered in Koło (the meetings took place in the refectory of the Bernardine monastery, moreover, the nobility gathered in the nearby meadows on the Warta River). After the fire of 1622 and the destruction caused by the Swedish Deluge in 1655, the development of the town, based mainly on craft and trade, was halted. Despite that Koło remained the leading centre in the region, being the largest town of Konin district in the 18th century. After the loss of independence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the town came under Prussian rule, and in 1815 it was incorporated into the newly created Kingdom of Poland, which was subordinate to the Russian Empire. As in other nearby centres (e.g. Turek, Władysławów, Dobra), in the first half of the 19th century, weaving manufacture developed. In 1842, on the initiative of Józef Freudenreich, the first faience and majolica factory was established in the town. During the German occupation of Poland during World War II, the local Jewish population of about 5000 people were shot, deported or imprisoned in the Koło ghetto, and then murdered by the Germans in the nearby Nazi extermination camp in Chełmno nad Nerem (Rzuchowskie Forest) in 1941.

The parish church in Koło dates back to the 13th century, when its present chancel was built. At the turn of the 14th/15th centuries (before 1407) the church was extended with a nave. In 1470, the privilege granted by King Kazimierz Jagiellończyk allowed for the establishment of a mansionary college at the church in Koło, who ran a parish school here and took care of the local Literary Brotherhood. The founder of the college, which earned income from an inn in the nearby Osiek Wielki, was Jan Hińcza from Rogów. In 1522 the chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary was consecrated, added to the church at the expense of Jarosław Pomian Sokołowski. The parish of St. Lawrence, located outside the city walls, was incorporated into the parish in 1540, and in 1552 - the parish of Kościelec Kolski located nearby. In 1775, during the fire in Koło, the roof over the sacristy of the church, the porch, the treasury, the altar and the bell tower were burnt down and 3 bells melted down. In the years 1863-1895, a major renovation and expansion of the church was carried out, including the building of pillars and vaults in the nave, the addition of a porch from the west side and the chapel of Our Lady of Częstochowa from the north, changing the shape of the window openings, replacing the baroque furnishings with neo-Gothic ones, and making interior polychromes by Wincenty Strubiński, as well as a new pulpit and balustrade in front of the altar by Leon Domański. After the completion of these works, the temple was re-consecrated and given a new name of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. In 1917, a commemorative plaque commemorating the centenary of Tadeusz Kościuszko’s death was embedded in the outer wall of the church chancel. During World War II, the closed church was used by the occupying German authorities as a storehouse for clothes taken from local Jews, most of whom were transported to the nearby German extermination camp in Chełmno nad Nerem. In the 1970s and 1980s, the stained glass windows in the nave and chancel were replaced and the polychrome in the interiors was restored. Subsequent work carried out at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries included the repair of the organ, replacement of the roof truss and tile structure, repainting and repair of the bell tower and church gables, as well as the cleaning and maintenance of its exterior walls. In addition, the organ and the chancel were renovated. In 2008, the new brick bell tower erected at the church was consecrated.

Description of the structure

The Gothic parish church in Koło is located in the oldest part of the town, a river island separated by the arms of the Warta river. A brick church laid in the Gothic and header bond, oriented from the south, east and north, is surrounded by a brick fence. The three-nave main body is adjoined by a smaller and narrower chancel to the east, a porch to the west, the chapel of Our Lady of Częstochowa to the north, a treasury and the chapel of Our Lady of Perpetual Help to the south. A sacristy adjoins the chancel from the south. The walls of the chancel, nave and the chapel of Our Lady of Częstochowa are buttressed. A large 19th century crucifix is located on the east wall of the chancel. The gabled roofs of the nave, chancel and chapels are covered with tiles. The interiors of the main body and side chapels are covered with cross-ribbed vaults, while the chancel has a stellar vault. In the western part of the nave there is a choir gallery with a pipe organ. The church fixtures and fittings include, among others: neo-Gothic main and side altars, a Baroque altar in the chapel of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and a neo-Gothic altar in the chapel of Our Lady of Częstochowa, neo-Gothic stoup made of sandstone, a 15th-century pulpit with 19-century stairs and pseudo-classical balustrade in front of the main altar, wrought iron. Particularly noteworthy is the Gothic tombstone of Jan of Grabów, of the Sulima coat of arms, dated 1454 and made of sandstone.

Visitor access: The church is open to visitors from the outside.

Author of the note: Tomasz Łuczak, 28.12.2017

Bibliography

• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, Vol. 5, Woj. wielkopolskie, ed. Ruszczyńska Teresa, Sławska Aniela, z. 8, Pow. kolski, opr. Rutkowska Janina, Warsaw 1965, pp. 13-15.
• Koło – kościół pw. Świętego Krzyża, Record sheet of monuments of architecture and construction, compiled by Bożena Narębska, 1992, Archive of the Voivodeship Heritage Protection Officer in Poznań - Branch in Konin
• Wielkopolska. Słownik krajoznawczy, ed. Łęcki Włodzimierz, Poznań 2002, pp. 140-142.
• Piotr Maluśkiewicz, Województwo konińskie. Szkic monograficzny, Warszawa-Poznań 1983, pp. 186-197.
• Piotr Maluśkiewicz, Ziemia konińska. Przewodnik turystyczny, Konin 2002, pp. 96-101.
• http://kolskafara.pl – accessed in December 2017
• Gotyckie kościoły w Wielkopolsce, ed. Piotr Maluśkiewicz, Poznań 2008, pp. 162-163.