The church was founded most probably in a place where the first monastery in the Polish territory had been established and where Five Martyr Brothers had been killed.

History

According to the tradition, Święty Wojciech is a location of the Benedictine hermitage established in 1001 by Bolesław I the Brave. It is related to the martyrdom of the Five Martyr Brothers in 1003, canonised by pope John XVIII a year later. The first mention of the village, as villa sancti Adalberti, and the church in written records dates back to 1259. Probably at that time the village was already a bishop’s property. In 1476 the local priest Mikołaj was mentioned in historical records and in 1518 the affiliation of the church with the Międzyrzecz parish was confirmed. During the Reformation, in the years 1580-1603, the temple remained in the hands of Protestants. During an inspection carried out in 1724, it was established that the wooden church was in a very bad technical condition. Probably for this reason a new wattle-and-daub church was built around 1790. The earlier, Late Gothic bells were transferred to the new one. After the confiscation of the church estates in 1798 the village was taken over by the Prussian state and later by the German Reich. In the years 1807-1815 it belonged to the Duchy of Poland. After World War II the church was consecrated in 1949 incorporated in the parish of St. John the Baptist in Międzyrzecz, later to be included in the newly established parish of St Adalbert. In the 1960s the roof was repaired and cavities in the wattle-and-daub structure were filled; in the 1980s window joinery and the floor were replaced and in the 1990s the roof was clad in sheet metal. In the early 21st century a full-scale renovation of the temple was carried out.

Description

The church is situated in the central part of the village, at an intersection of the local roads. A small square at the church, formerly a graveyard, is surrounded by a fence and adjoins the escarpment descending towards the Obra river. The aisleless temple was erected by applying a log timber frame structure and setting it on a rectangular floor plan terminating in a semi-hexagon on the south side. It includes a quadrangular tower at the north end. The main body is covered with a gable roof with sloping planes on the south side; the church is flanked by a tower with a dome topped with a lantern. One of the bells funded in the 17th century has survived.

Limited access to the monument. It can be visited upon prior telephone arrangement.

Author of the note Anna Jackiewicz, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Zielona Góra. 16-11-2017

Bibliography

• Garbacz K., Przewodnik po zabytkach województwa lubuskiego, vol. 3, Zielona Góra 2013, pp. 209-210.
• Szymańska-Dereń M., Kościoły zrębowe i szkieletowe województwa lubuskiego, Zielona Góra 2009, pp. 124-127.
• Schematyzm diecezji zielonogórsko-gorzowskiej, Zielona Góra 1995, p. 453.