It is classified to 16th-century churches of Wieluń type, Greater Poland variety.

History

The church in its current form was built in a couple of stages. As the time of its construction, the 16th century is indicated, in general. However, sources specifying the exact date of its actual construction are missing. In that time, the nave body, chancel, and sacristy come into being. The elements coming from the later period include: tower (17th century) and the current sacristy (1970-74) which replaced an older one. The first mention relating to the church comes from 1660 and contains a note by Jakub Gaszyński, informing about the need for repairing the church. Until 1668, there was a chapel of Sigismund the King and Martyr in Gaszyn, belonging to the monastery of Bernardine sisters and operated by a curate of the collegiate church in Wieluń. It was a wooden building, covered with wood shingles, with a tower adjoining the nave and a brick floor inside. In the years 1668-1766, the chapel became a filial church, under a new dedication - of Our Lady of Grace, changed in 1797 to the Holiest Name of Mary. In the 18th century, owing to the efforts of property owner Stefan Wolicki (Walicki), the roof, walls, and floors were repaired, and the interior, choir, ambo, and pews were painted. During the next renovation of the church, in years 1970-74, wall paintings were removed, and supports, choir, two side altars (from mid-18th century), and ambo were dismantled, and a new sacristy was added. The last renovation of the church was conducted in the years 2008-11. The parish in Gaszyn was established in 1987.

Description

The village of Gaszyn is located on the Wieluńska Upland, approx. 2 km from Wieluń to the south. The church is located in the northern part of the village, in the middle of the cemetery. It is oriented. The site is surrounded by a wooden fence and a ring of trees, with a magnificent elm in the south-western corner. It is a late-Gothic church associated with the group of Wieluń churches, Greater Poland variety, comprised of a rectangular (nearly square) nave, a narrower chancel with a straight end section, adjoining the nave from the east, a sacristy, and a tower at the western wall of the nave. The body of the church is compact. The nave and the chancel are covered with a common, single-ridge gable roof, with wide projecting eaves around the chancel. The northern slope is extended over the sacristy. On the roof ridge over the nave, there is a hexagonal steeple turret. From the west, the nave is adjoined by a low tower built on a square floor plan (17th century), with walls slightly tapering upwards, covered by a tented roof, with projecting eaves. By the northern wall of the chancel, there is a sacristy built at a later time, covered by a mono-pitched roof (1970-1974). The church is made of wood and rests on a brick foundation. Its roofs are laid with wood shingles. The building is clad with weatherboards from the outside. The walls of the nave and the chancel feature a corner-notched log construction, with logs joined in the corners with dovetail joints. The façades are covered with vertical weatherboards and partitioned only by window openings from the south. The main entrance to the church is situated in the western wall of the tower. The single-space nave and the narrower chancel with a straight end section are separated by a rood opening of rectangular profile, with a chamfered rood beam on which there was once a date inscription (currently illegible). The log structure of the walls is visible. In the north-western corner of the nave, there are traces of window sill beams of a small choir, resting on a single post, dismantled in the 1970s. The interior is covered by a plank and board flat ceiling installed at one level, circumscribed by a crown moulding. In the western wall of the nave, a door opening has survived in the original form - with two jambs and a lintel beam of semi-circular profile. Also the late-Renaissance main altar from the 1st half of the 17th century, and sculptures of St Stanislaus and St Wojciech (mid-17th century), and coffin plaque of Jakub Gaszyński (of 1672) are worth particular attention.

The building is available all year round; interior tours upon prior telephone appointment with the parish administrator.

compiled by Elżbieta Cieślak, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Łódź, 10.12.2014.

Bibliography

• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, t. II, woj. łódzkie, z. 12 powiat wieluński, Warszawa 1953, s. 365.
• Ryszard Brykowski, Grażyna Ruszczyk, Inwentarz drewnianej architektury sakralnej w Polsce, Zeszyt 4b kościoły w Wielkopolsce, Warszawa 1993, s. 29.
• Ryszard Rosin, Słownik historyczno-geograficzny ziemi wieluńskiej w średniowieczu, Warszawa 1963, s. 80.
• Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, pod red. T. Sulmierskiego, T. II, Warszawa 1881, s. 449.