A rare example of an Evangelical church with preserved original interior fittings which are typical of Protestant places of worhsip.

History

An Evangelical parish in the Jerutki village was established at the beginning of the 18th century, while in the 19th century it was one of the largest Evangelical parishes in Southern Mazury; in 1818, it was the second-biggest parish in the region - only the parish in the town of Szczytno (in the Szczytno district) was larger. The first pastor in the parish was Johann Biegun who came from Königsberg in 1710 and who started the construction of the church in the same year. In 1734, the first church building was demolished due to poor technical condition. It was replaced by the existing post-and-beam structure with two porches and a tower which was built upon the foundations of the previous church. Before 1854, an annex housing the sacristy was added on the northern side of the chancel. The existing brick tower was built on the outline of the previous one in 1821 (and topped with a weathervane with the date of construction of the church); out of the two original porches only the southern one survived to the present day. The church served as an Evangelical temple until the 1970s. However, as a result of the emigration wave to Germany at the turn of the 1970s, the number of churchgoers dwindled and the disused church has begun to dilapidate. In the first half of the 1970s, the Mazury Diocese of the Evangelical church of the Augsburg Confession decided to hand over the church to the Museum of Folk Architecture in Olsztynek so that it could be relocated to an open-air museum. A part of the interior fittings was transferred to the museum during that time; however, the church itself was never relocated and was ultimately handed over to the Catholics. During the renovation works carried out in the 1980s, window openings were transformed and the damaged parts of the galleries were replaced. Some of the original fittings were also brought back to the church. Currently the church is used a filial church of the parish church of St Andrew Bobola in Świętajno. The church is surrounded by a historic cemetery from the second half of the 19th century, with preserved crucifixes and gravestones. In the neighbourhood of the church stands the historic clergy house from the late 18th century/early 19th century which was visited by the king of Prussia Friedrich Wilhelm together with his wife Louise in 1802; in 1812, the house was used as living quarters by two Napoleonic generals.

Description

The church is situated in the centre of the village, close to the main crossroads, forming a background for the surrounding cemetery. The building was erected on a rectangular floor plan, with a rectangular chancel, a tower built on a square floor plan in the western section of the church and a rectangular porch in the south. The church is a half-timbered building with plastered wattle-and-daub infills, covered with a gable roof clad with ceramic roof tiles. The tower is a brick structure with plastered walls, covered with a tented roof. The open-space interior holds many features typical of Evangelical churches (the choir galleries, the baptising angel) as well as the Baroque main altar (1737-1738). The tombstone of the wife of Johann Biegun, the first pastor of the Evangelical parish, who died in 1711, can also be found inside the church. It is believed that the original, foliated decorations painted on the ceiling may survive underneath the modern panelling.

Limited access to the historic building. The church can be viewed from the outside; it is open during church service.

Compiled by Iwona Liżewska, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Olsztyn

Bibliography

• M. Toeppen, Historia Mazur, Olsztyn 1995, p. 318, 361 (wyd. oryginalne Gdańsk 1870)
• Die Fachwerkkirche in. Kl.Jerutten 200 Jahre alt, Zeitschrift zur Jubelfeier am.16. September 1934 von Pfarer Joh. Franz Pilchowski, p.4 -5 (wyd. Ortelsburger Zeitung).
• I. Liżewska, W. Knercer, Przewodnik po historii i zabytkach ziemi szczycieńskiej, Olsztyn 1998, 54-56.
• I. Liżewska, Jerutki. Z dziejów wsi i parafii, w: Rocznik Mazurski, t.VI/2002, p.98-101.