Inside, there is a rich equipment, for example, Baroque altars and a painting by Michael Willmann or his associates. The building is crowned with cupolas designed by Hans Poelzig.

History

The Baroque church was erected between 1729 and 1731. Part of the west façade of the former Romanesque-Gothic church was used in the design. The designer was probably Johann I. Töpper, the author of churches in Głubczyce, Prudnik, Śmicz, and Ścinawa Nyska.

Description

The parish church was located in the east part of the mediaeval town, away from the market by a single block. It was built of brick, incorporating part of the west wall made of quarry stone. That oldest part is the remnant of the typical Romanesque two-tower arrangement. Four portholes have remained of the ancient structure along with single windows in stone surrounds. The main portal has Romanesque and Gothic traits: recessed, with ogival and profiled archivolt; the columns in reveals topped with heads bearing masks allegedly resembling the faces of the local friars.

The body of the church is three-nave, with a three-sided termination of the chancel. A small porch added from the south. The church roof is a double-pitched structure. The towers have superstructures and are topped with cupolas; their connecting wall is heightened.

The Baroque interior is covered with a barrel vault with stuccowork, framework ornamentation. The nave opens with arcades to the aisles; galleries present on the upper level. On the rood beam, a Latin inscription containing the date of foundation (the so-called chronogram). The neo-Baroque altar was made in 1921. The rest of the fittings date from the 18th century. The church boast as many as eight Baroque auxiliary altars. One of them (of Our Lady of Sorrows) contains a Baroque painting the Lamentation of Christ (end of the 17th c.). This is a copy of Van Dyck’s made in Michael Willmann’s workshop.

The monument is available to visitors.

Compiled by Joanna Szot, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Opole, 23-09-2014.

Bibliography

• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, t. VII: Województwo opolskie, red. T. Chrzanowski, M. Kornecki, z. 9: Powiat nyski, oprac. T. Chrzanowski, M. Kornecki.
• Kutzer P., Kirchengeschichte von Ziegenhals, Ziegenhals 1932.
• Lutsch H., Verzeichnis der Kunstdenkmäler der Provinz Schlesien, Bd. 4: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Reg.-Bezirks Oppeln, Tl. 1, Breslau 1890.
• Świechowski Z., Katalog architektury romańskiej w Polsce, Warszawa 2009.
• Zabytki sztuki w Polsce. Śląsk, Warszawa 2006.