Among the surviving fittings, there are: the main altar from the end of the 18th century in the form of a frame framed by wall-mounted pillars, with sculptures of Aaron and Moses on the sides and a painting with the scene of the Presentation of the Keys to St. Peter in the central field (ca. 1665, the painting comes from the main altar of the Poznań cathedral). During the renovation works in 1985-90, wall paintings from the period of the church construction and from the 1730s were discovered.

History of the structure

Tarnowo Podgórne (former Tarnowo) is a large communal village located 18 km northwest of Poznań, near old transportation and trade routes: from Poznań through Międzyrzecz to Frankfurt, Łużyce and Western Pomerania and from Poznań through Szamotuły to Szczecin. Rural buildings stretch along the former road from Poznań to Berlin. The history of the village can be traced back to the 13th century. Tarnowo was first mentioned in the sources in 1257, when Bolesław the Pious, the Prince of Wielkopolska, granted a customs privilege to komes Janek from the Zaremba family, the heir of Jarocin, in a document issued in Poznań. In this document Tarnowo is mentioned among the villages granted to Janek earlier, probably in 1249-50. In 1288 the Poznań bishop Jan II of the Nałęcz coat of arms erected a parish in Lusowo, including Tarnowo. In 1293 the Zarembas - komes Janek’s sons: Archdeacon of Gniezno Filip, Chamberlain of Kalisz Sędziwój, Governor of Tczew Mikołaj and the Cup Bearer of Kalisz Michał donated the village to the bishop of Poznań, which is confirmed by the document of Prince Przemysł II of Wielkopolska. In 1360, the village was founded under the German law. The charter document was issued by Bishop Jan V of the Doliwa coat of arms. In the 17th and 18th centuries Tarnowo still belonged to the Poznań bishops, and the village was leased by petty gentry. The bishops owned the village until 1793. After the Second Partition of Poland, the church property was taken over by the Prussian state. Landed estates were granted to particularly meritorious officials and military men. In 1798, the bishop’s estate in Tarnowo was given as a life-hold to the Prussian general of artillery Toenette Lűttlichen. In 1816, the estate passed into the hands of Friedrich August Ferdinand von Grȁvenitz. Subsequent owners of Tarnowo included Edward Wehle, Friedrich Gustaw Dannapfel, von Forestier, Hermann Fryderyk Rȁtschke, Maria Anna Strousberg, Theodor Trentow and finally Julian and Paulina Plescher. In 1874 the last owner of Tarnowo sold the property to the Royal Colonization Commission.

All Saints’ Church was founded in the 14th century, possibly shortly after 1298 by Bishop Andrzej Zaremba (died 1317). In the 1380s at the latest Tarnowo was excluded from the parish of Lusowo, becoming a separate parish, mentioned for the first time in 1383 (reference was made to the parish priest, Peter). The original church was probably wooden. References to bequests for the construction of a new temple come from the years 1425-26. It is assumed that the late Gothic church, which has survived to the present day, was built around 1464 from the foundation of Bishop Andrzej Bniński. The church was consecrated by the suffragan of Poznań, Jakub Dziaduski, in 1541. A number of information about the church and its furnishings can be found in the visitation records and the Poznań consistory records from the 17th and 18th centuries. The oldest visitation in 1628 confirms the existence of the All Saints’ Church in Tarnowo. More information is contained in the records of the 1663 visitation, which describe the church and its surroundings (including the poor condition of the bell tower, lack of a fence and a mortuary) and furnishing (the main altar with the painting of the Virgin Mary and two side altars with the paintings of St. Anne and the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary). The 1664 property inspection records described the condition of the church, rectory and other buildings as very poor. The records of the 1677 visitation show that the church remained abandoned for several years, and then the next parish priest began its renovation (including repairing the roof, floor and furnishings, building a new rectory and outbuildings). Visitation records from the end of the 17th century (1695) and from the first half of the next century (1710, 1726, 1738) emphasize the good condition of the church and describe its furnishings in detail. A parish school is mentioned in 1695, and a hospital for the poor in 1738. The next major investments in the Tarnowo church took place in the second half of the 18th century, when, among others, a wooden storey of the tower was erected (1787). During this time the main altar and three side altars were built. In the main altar there is a painting from the Poznań Cathedral with the scene of the Presentation of the Keys to St. Peter. The painting was created around 1665, at first it was placed in the main altar of the cathedral, in 1795 (according to other sources in 1775) it was given to the church in Tarnowo. In 1889, a small porch was added to the south side of the church. A plan for a brick tower was also developed at this time, but it was not realized.

In 1932, a major renovation of the church was carried out. During the Nazi occupation the church was closed and the building was used as a warehouse. After the Second World War the church was repaired many times, e.g. in 1964 (interior painting) and in 1985-90 (e.g. external plastering of the church, uncovering of the Gothic vault, uncovering and restoration of the frescos and painting of the interior, restoration of the main altar and all the paintings, removal of the side altars). The last renovation was carried out in 2011-14 (including strengthening of the vault and the walls of the church, drying of the foundations, plastering the church from the outside, replacement of the structure and the roofing, renovation of the interior, repair of the chapel-mortuary and landscaping around the church). The 550th anniversary of the temple was celebrated in 2014.

Description of the structure

The Church of All Saints is situated in the centre of the village. Its chancel is oriented towards the east. The temple is surrounded by a former church cemetery, surrounded by a new metal fence. A tripartite gate leads to the cemetery from the south. To the west of the church there is a neo-Gothic chapel-mortuary from around 1900. The late Gothic church is an aisleless structure with two bays, built on a rectangular floor plan, closed on the eastern side with three sides. On the western side there is a tower on a rectangular floor plan with a porch on the ground floor. A small rectangular sacristy adjoins the church from the north, and a rectangular porch from the south. The body of the church is framed by single-stepped buttresses. It is covered by a high gable roof, which turns into a three-hipped roof over the chancel closure. The sacristy is covered with a shed roof, the south porch with a gable roof. The whole is dominated by a tower, in the lower storey made of brick, above it - wooden, covered with a tented roof topped with a metal cross.

The church is a brick building built on a stone foundation. The walls outside and inside the temple were plastered. The roofs were covered with ceramic roof tiles. The interior of the nave and chancel is covered by a stellar vault, the sacristy - by a barrel vault, and the porches: the tower porch and southern porch - by a double barrel vault.

The church elevations were covered with plaster. The upper, wooden storey of the tower is boarded with vertically nailed boards. The windows of the nave and chancel are topped with semicircular arches, the small windows of the tower, sacristy and the south porch are segmental or rectangular. In the axis of the western elevation there is a main entrance topped with a semicircular arch with stepped doorframes, above it - three blind windows closed with a sharp arch. The side elevations of the tower are segmented with blind windows topped with a semicircular or pointed-arch, in the southern elevation there is a segmented entrance. The surfaces of the buttresses are varied with segmental blind windows. In the southern porch there is a segmented entrance in a pointed-arch recess. On the east wall of the chancel there is a segmented blind window, which formerly housed a carved Crucifixion group.

The interior of the nave and chancel is covered with a stellar vault. Brick vault ribs contrast with the white painted vaults. The walls were decorated with Baroque polychromy from the 1730s; a fragment of a Gothic painting from the period of the church construction has also been preserved. The painting on the north wall, at the entrance to the sacristy, depicts Christ; above him are four saints: Thomas, Paul, Bartholomew and Christopher. On the same wall on the west side - depictions of St. Bishop and an unknown saint. The south wall bears the image of Pope Gregory the Great. In the niche above the entrance to the sacristy there is a kneeling figure of St. Stanisław Kostka. In the western part of the nave a wooden music gallery was built, supported on a pair of wooden posts. On the choir there is a fragment of a Gothic painting depicting a smiling face of an unknown saint, called in Tarnowo “Saint Żwirek”.

In the interior, among others, the main altar from the late 18th century has been preserved, framed by wall pillars, with the sculptures of Aaron and Moses on the sides and a painting depicting the scene of the Presentation of the Keys to St. Peter in the middle field (the painting was originally in the main altar of the Poznań cathedral). In the 1970s in the Tarnowo church there were still three side altars, consisting of mensas and paintings in Rococo frames. The paintings depicted All Saints (ca. 18th century), Our Lady of the Snows (17th century) and the Captivity of St. John of Nepomuk (ca. mid- 18th century). These altars were removed during the renovation of the church in 1985-90. However, the old altar paintings have survived: the above-mentioned 17th-century painting of Our Lady of the Snows and the one probably dating from the second half of the 16th century, a repainted painting of the Virgin and Child with St. Anne. Listed in the Monuments Catalogue, the late Baroque statue of the Virgin Mary with Child is now in the post-Protestant Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Visitor access. The site can be visited both from the outside and inside. More information on the church is available at the parish website: www.parafiatarnowopodgorne.pl, the website of the Poznań Archdiocese: archpoznan.pl and the website: ratujmyzabytek.pl

Author of the note: Krzysztof Jodłowski, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Poznań, 11.12.2017

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