It is the largest wooden church in Wielkopolska, and the second largest, after the church in Haczów, in Poland. Erected on the site of a former church demolished by the Germans in 1942, it can be seen as a material testimony of the attachment of the inhabitants of Wielkopolska to the tradition of building and using sacral wooden architecture.

History of the structure

Ostrowąż was first mentioned in written sources in the 13th century. The local church was first mentioned in 1465. Earlier, a parish was probably established in Ostrowąż. The third of the following churches was built of wood in 1786. It was demolished by the Germans in 1942-1943 as part of the fight against the Polish Roman Catholic Church in the Wartheland, which during World War II belonged to the territories incorporated into the Third Reich. In the years 1946-1948, thanks to the efforts of the parish priest Władysław Górski, a new wooden church was built according to the project of the architect Wilczyński. The construction, carried out by carpenters from Golina and then from Półwiosek Nowy, was supervised by a technician architect Władysław Goc.

Description of the structure

The Church of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary is located in the middle of the village by the local road leading from Kopydłówek to Biskupie. The non-oriented church was built of wood in a log construction on a Latin cross floor plan. Its floor area is more than 348 square meters and its volume is 2800 cubic meters. Side chapels, lower than the nave, adjoin the nave from the north and south, forming the arms of the transept. On the west side there is also a lower, polygonally closed chancel with two symmetrically situated sacristies. The southeast, east, and northeast walls of the nave are flanked by cloister-type walkways. The gabled roofs of the temple are covered with sheet metal. In the eastern part of the nave roof there is a square ridge turret with a tin cupola with a lantern. There are stained glass windows in the windows of the church. The flat-ceilinged interior with contemporary furnishings features a choir gallery with a simple parapet supported by two pillars.

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

Author of the note: Tomasz Łuczak, 28.12.2018

Bibliography

• Ostrowąż — kościół parafialny pw. Niepokalanego Serca NMP i św. Jakuba Ap., Record sheet of monuments of architecture and construction, compiled by Lidia Waśkowska, 1989, Archive of the Wielkopolskie Voivodeship Heritage Protection Officer in Poznań - Branch in Konin.
• Diecezja włocławska 2000, ed. W. Frątczak, W. Kujawski, A. Poniński, K. Rulka, L. Urbański, Włocławek 2001, pp. 583-585.
• Kościoły drewniane w Wielkopolsce, ed. Mariusz Grzebalski, Poznań 2004, p. 190.
• http://kosciolydrewniane.pl – accessed in December 2018.