History

The Filial Church of St Michael the Archangel was mentioned for the first time in 1466 in connection with a local parish-priest called Michał. The church probably existed as early as in the 14th century. In the 16th century, the churches in Jezierzyce Kościelne and the nearby Gołanice were temporarily taken over by Protestants. In 1670, the church in Jezierzyce Kościelne, again used by Catholics, became a filial church of the Gołanice Parish. The first, wooden building burnt down in the late 18th century. In 1806, it was replaced with another church building, also having a log structure (in the main body) and covered with weatherboards.

A new picket fence was built in 1986. Conservation works were carried out in 1989. The church tower underwent full-scale renovations in 1993.

Description

The Filial Church of St Michael the Archangel is located in the central part of the village, on the south side of a road connecting Święciechowa and Włoszakowice. The church is surrounded by a graveyard established in the 1st half of the 19th century, enclosed with a fence made up of wooden pickets resting on a stone base stretching between brick plastered posts, with a gate on the north side.

The church is oriented towards the east. It has one nave (with no aisles). The nave has a rectangular floor plan; on its east side, there is a narrower, nearly square chancel opening to the nave along its whole width. On the west side, the nave is adjoined by a square tower with an entrance at the ground floor level. On the north-east side of the nave, there is a porch having a floor plan in the shape of an elongated rectangle, with a door opening in the north wall. The porch enables access to the nave and a sacristy located on the north side, slightly wider than the porch and also having an elongated rectangle floor plan.

Both the nave and the chancel, lower than the nave, have one storey and a high attic. They are covered with gable roofs. The northern plane of the chancel roof is elongated and covers the lower sacristy and the porch. Over the entrance to the porch, there is a triangular gable covered with a separate gable roof. The two-storeyed tower adjoining the nave on the west side is higher and narrower than the nave. Its upper storey is narrower and separated from the lower storey with skirt roofs covered with wood shingles. The tower is topped with a high hip roof surmounted by a spire with a cross.

The nave, chancel, porch, and sacristy have a wooden log structure resting on a brick, plastered wall base; their walls are covered with vertically-positioned weatherboards. The lower storey of the tower is made of brick and plastered. The upper storey is made of wood and covered with boards. The roofs are covered with wood shingles. The nave, porch, and sacristy have flat ceilings made of beams covered with boards and plastered from below. The tower porch and the section below the music gallery also have flat ceilings. The chancel is covered with a false barrel vault.

The west façade of the church is covered with boards painted dark brown and crowned with a high triangular gable. On its central axis is the two-storeyed tower, taller and narrower than the nave. Its lower storey, decorated with a profiled cornice at the top, is plastered and painted; the upper storey, having walls covered with boards, is topped with a high hip roof with wood shingles, surmounted by a spire with a cross. The lower storey of the west wall of the tower has one axis. The door opening, headed by a segmental arch, leads to the tower porch. Above the entrance, there is a round panel filled with a radial ornament; above, there is a plaque with the date “1806”, commemorating the completion of the church. In the north façade of the tower, in its lower part, there are two small rectangular window openings — one in the centre and the other below the cornice crowning the storey. In the centre of the south façade of the tower, there is a square niche. The one-storeyed side façades of the tower are covered with weatherboards painted dark brown. They have rectangular window openings. On the south side, there are also two square windows: one lighting the space below the music gallery and the other — the matroneum itself. The east façade of the church, also covered with weatherboards, is crowned with triangular gable. On this side, the northern plane of the roof is elongated to cover the lower sacristy, whose side façade is in one line with the chancel. In the east façade of the sacristy, there is a window opening, above which there is a rectangular door leading to the attic. In the centre of the triangular gable of the chancel wall, there is a single rectangular window opening headed by a segmental arch.

The church has one nave. The nave, sacristy, and north porch have flat ceilings. The chancel, opening to the nave along its whole width, is covered with a false barrel vault. The interior walls are covered with plaster; in the nave and the chancel, they are topped with a wooden, profiled cornice painted dark brown. In the south-west corner of the tower porch, there are stairs leading to the second storey of the tower and to the music gallery.

In the chancel, there is a Baroque main altar from the 2nd quarter of the 18th century, incorporating paintings depicting St Michael the Archangel (in the central section) and St John the Baptist (in the antependium). In the north-east corner of the nave, there is a Baroque pulpit from the 1st half of the 18th century. The church also features two crucifixes: one from the 16th/17th century and the other from the beginning of the 18th century.

Limited access to the historic monument. The church is a filial church of the Parish of Saints Peter and Paul in Gołanice. It is open during Holy Masses.

compiled by Anna Dyszkant, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Poznan, 30-10-2015.

Bibliography

• Drewniane kościoły w Wielkopolsce, koncepcja, opracowanie tekstów i wybór fotografii Piotr Maluśkiewicz, Poznań 2004, s. 97.
• Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, t. V: Województwo poznańskie, z. 12: Powiat leszczyński, oprac. T. Ruszczyńska, A. Sławska, Warszawa 1975, s. 13.
• Zgodziński B., Województwo leszczyńskie, Warszawa-Poznań 1989, s. 202.