History

The church was established as a result of the need to meet the needs of the faithful, which were intensified because of the fact that a Romanesque church of the Blessed Virgin Mary had burned down in the 1880s. On 20 April 1888, the then parish priest, Aureli Kompf, requested that the Royal Regency in Bydgoszcz grant permission for the demolition of the ruins of the old church and construction of a new one in its place. The location was not approved, with the nearby garden owned by the Reverend Kompf being indicated as a more suitable one. In 1892, the then archbishop Florian Stablewski indicated the parish priest’s orchard as the new location, after which Kuntzel, a building counsellor, was commissioned to determine the general design parameters. In May 1895, August Rincklake, an architect from Berlin, was authorised to prepare the documents for the new church under ecclesiastical resolutions. They were accepted on 29 November or 1 December 1895. However, the construction work only began in mid-May 1898 (for financial reasons).

The project was implemented by a company owned by Kazimierz Przyłuski and supervised by Posin, an architect from Charlottenburg. The cornerstone was consecrated on 3 April 1899 by Archbishop F. Stablewski. The construction was completed in 1900. On 20 October the following year, the new church was consecrated by the dean of Inowrocław, Prelate Antoni Poniński.

As a result of subsidence of the land with part of the church (1907) – the northern wall of the transept and the portal containing a tympanum with sculptures, it was decided that the structure would be reconstructed. Due to the construction risk being high, the parish priest A. Lubitz built a makeshift church of the Heart of Jesus in 1911, which was demolished after 1946.

The restoration and construction work only began in mid-1927. On 10 April 1929, the Construction Committee approved the construction of a brick fence. On 25 August of the same year, the reconstructed church was officially consecrated by the Archbishop of Gniezno and Poznań, Primate of Poland, Cardinal August Hlond. It was then that the church was named after the Blessed Virgin Mary

Description

The church is situated in the centre of Inowrocław, outside the old town, approx. 550 m north of the Market Square. The plot with the building is demarcated by four streets: Biskupa A. Laubitza Street, Poprzeczna Street, Ks. Romana Zientarskiego Street and Plebanka Street. Approx. 200 m to the east, there is the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The roughly rectangular plot is surrounded by a low wall consisting of brick and plastered posts connected by iron spans. A line of trees was planted on the inside. The main entrance to the square is in the south-eastern corner of the plot. Another, smaller entrance can be found to the south, consisting of a wicket gate in the eastern section which leads to the rectory. There are two more entrances: to the north and to the south-east.

The design of the church is reminiscent of the late Rundbogenstil. It is oriented towards the east and built on a roughly T-shaped floor plan with a number of distinct sections. The building is made of ceramic solid fired brick laid in cross bond using lime-cement mortar. The body follows a three-nave layout with a somewhat distinct transept with a portal in the arms and a projecting chancel, which terminates in a smaller apse from the east. On the east side of the transept, there is a single bay while on the western side there are three. A uniform-width (four-storey) tower adjoins the nave body from the west. Below, there is a porch connected with the main nave and flanked by two smaller porches by the bays adjacent to the tower, which lead to the aisles. All portals, cornices and the architectural sculpture are made of sandstone.

The chancel is flanked symmetrically by the sacristy (from the south) and a chapel (from the north), with both being approximately half its height. They project significantly ahead of the walls of the nave body and terminate in small apses on the eastern side. Above the place where the chancel, the nave and the aisles meet, there are two square towers jutting out above the roof ridge. The dominant feature of the nave body is the westwork, which consists of the central tower body and and the curtain wall of the façade flanked by cylindrical towers. The lower section of the entire church is accentuated by a plinth, which is only lower in the area of the sacristy and the chapel.

The body of the nave, the chancel, the transept and the annexes are covered with gable roofs clad with ceramic (beaver-tail) tiles. Above the apses, the roofs are conical in shape. The central tower is covered with a helm roof with a king post truss clad in sheet metal. Just like conical roofs, it features dormers of the neighbouring towers.

Three entrance in the west façade feature stone portals, the central one being four-stepped and featuring wimperg-like decoration. The tympanum features free-standing figural sculptures depicting the Madonna with Child Enthroned, surrounded by saints and the Blessed. The wimperg is topped with a cross, below which there is an image of the face of Christ, and the whole structure is flanked by free-standing sculptures of lions. Above, there is a rose window in profiled reveals with stone roll-moulding. Above the side portals, there are small windows with round arches. The outermost gablets adjoining the tower feature longitudinal niches. There are five of the latter above the rose window. The storey is topped with a procession frieze with arcaded decorations. Above, there are five bell openings topped with round arches. The top section of the tower is adorned with a shallow triangular arcaded niche featuring three window openings topped with round arches in the centre. The gables of the tower corners are accentuated with pinnacles. The side façades are similar in appearance but in a less pronounced way.

The façades of the nave body have three axes on the western side of the transept and one axis on the eastern side (window openings topped with round arches on the axes); they are crowned with a corbel cornice. On the ground-floor level, walls of the transept feature stepped portals. The southern tympanum features the scene of the Annunciation in bas-relief, while the northern one is blank. The portal is topped with a triangular gable. Above, there is a large rose window in a shallow niche with the symbols of the evangelists in the corners. In the top section, there is a row of lancet-shaped niches arranged in the shape of a pyramid.

Above the annexes, the chancel features rose windows. On the east side, it is topped with a triangular gable with oculi. Beneath, there is an apse with three window openings topped with round arches.

The annexes adjoining the chancel are covered with a triangular gable, below which there are three windows below (topped with rounded arches and arranged in a pyramid-like layout). Between their apses and walls of the chancel, there are small rectangular entrances.

Inside, the nave opens is covered with a barrel vault and opens to the aisles in arcades resting on structural arches. The aisles, on the other hand, feature groin vaults with an elevated rise. The aisle bays rest upon the pillars between the nave and the aisles and upon the double pilasters along the peripheral walls. Between the pilasters, there are window openings. On the axes of the aisles, below the organ gallery, there are arcades resting upon rounded arches, which open up into small rectangular vestibules. In the western part, there is an organ gallery with clover-shaped decorations. At the intersection of the nave and the aisles, there is a domed ceiling resting on pendentives. The central pillars of the transept have capitals with sculptures of angels. The chancel is separated from the rest with a chancel arch and features a barrel vault and semi-domical ceilings in the apses, with the annexes following a similar design. In the porches, the ceiling is flat.

The fixtures and fittings have mostly been preserved and comprise the main altarpiece, side altarpieces, pipe organ casing, chancel balustrade, pulpit, ciborium, confessionals and pews.

The monument is open to visitors.  The church can be visited during service or upon prior telephone appointment.

Prepared by Mateusz Załuska 09-12-2015 

Bibliography

• Record sheet, Kościół Zwiastowania Najświętszej Marii Panny, Inowrocław, prepared by Bartowski K., 2003, Archive of the Voivodeship Heritage Protection Office in Toruń and Archive of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Warsaw.