Together with a manor house and farm, it is part of the eighteenth-century residential complex maintained in the form typical of the New March. The church features valuable furnishings including, among others, a late Renaissance altar, pulpit and founder’s loge funded by patrons.

History

Golenice is an old medieval village. At the beginning of the 15th century, the village was a fief of the von Wedel family, then in 1408 — the von Osten family, who built their castle there. In 1606, the property passed into the von Dotfflinger family and remained in their possession until it was bought by the von Rosey family, who belonged to the Swiss nobility, in 1740. The property was purchased by one of the six sons of Imbert Rolas von Rosey, progenitor of the Brandenburg branch of the family.

The new owner started the construction of his seat. In 1759, the work on the construction of the church was completed, which probably coincided with the construction of a Baroque manor house and creation of a park. Half-timbered utility buildings around the quadrangular yard in front of the manor house were built in the third or fourth quarter of the 18th century. The works led to the creation of a fairly stylistically homogenous late Baroque mansion complex. An important component of the complex was the Evangelical church, which remained under the auspices of the owners of the village. The owners were buried in a crypt next to the church, over which were the founder’s gallery and ambo. In 1770, the property of the von Rosey family passed by inheritance to the von Sydow family, and to the von Rieben family in 1805, in whose hands it remained until the mid-19th century. After 1945, the church was taken over by Catholics, and consecrated as the Church of the Holy Virgin Mary the Queen of Poland. Since 1985, it has been a parish church. A late Renaissance altar from 1598 was moved from another village to the church in the post-war period. In 1976, the façade of the church underwent devaluing renovation which involved removing its modest detail, including pilaster rustication. In 1977, the former crypt was adapted for use as a sacristy.

Description

The former manor complex is located in the centre of the village, on the western side of the main village road. It consists of a Baroque church and manor house, farm buildings around three yards, and a park. The complex can be accessed from the south-east, next to the church, north of which is a gatehouse. The church is situated within a cemetery surrounded by a stone wall with a gate to the east. It was designed in the Baroque style. The church is oriented, consists of a single nave, and was built on the plan of a rectangle terminating in an apse having a half oval shape. It features a square-shaped tower located to the west, which is slightly narrower than the nave body and a square-shaped sacristy (former burial chapel) on the north side of the nave. The tower with rounded corners is topped with a slender two-storey dome with a spire. The nave body is covered with a gable roof with rounded face over the eastern apse. The church is made of brick and plastered; the tower dome is wooden and covered with sheet metal; and the roof of the nave body is clad with roof tiles. The façades feature a separate low plinth. A strongly splayed opening of the main entrance topped with a basket-handle arch is located in the tower from the west. The façades of the tower body are partitioned by a cornice over the ground floor, niches topped with semicircular arches, and small oval openings on the top storey, and crowned with a wooden cornice with corbels. The upper wooden section of the tower features a separate plinth and rustication; the corners are accentuated by pilaster strips, framing the bell openings topped with semicircular arches. The window openings of the nave body are large and topped with semicircular arches. The central sections of the side façades have the form of faux avant-corps framed by pilaster strips on each side. The windows of these avant-corps are placed in rectangular panels. The interior of the church is covered with a plastered ceilings with a crown moulding. A wooden Baroque gallery characterised by a convexo-concave parapet rests on six pillars next to the western wall. The chancel section, along the northern wall, includes a glazed eighteenth-century founder’s loge topped with coats of arms of the patrons of the church, under which is the entrance to the former burial crypt.

Valuable interior fittings include the late Renaissance main altar from 1598 which was brought from another church. In the 18th century, the altar was converted into a pulpit altar. After 1945, the altar was transferred to Golenice, where the body of the ambo was dismantled and replaced with a painting. Other furnishings include the late Baroque ambo with a canopy dating from around 1759; organ casing from the second half of the 19th century designed in an eclectic style; Baroque candleholder from 1669.

Viewing of the structure is only possible by arrangement with the parish priest.

compiled by Maciej Słomiński, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Szczecin, 1-04-2015.

Bibliography

• Karta ewidencyjna zabytku, opr. Kazimiera Kalita-Skwirzyńska, 1986 r. (w WUOZ Szczecin)
• Golenice, dwór, dokumentacja historyczno-architektoniczna, opr. W. Łopuch, mps w WUOZ Szczecin