History

On the turn of the 18th and 19th century, many Evangelical Protestants lived in the city of Kielce and its vicinity, mainly specialists of German origin employed in the Old-Polish Industrial Area and teachers of the Academy of Metallurgy. Efforts to create a parish were undertaken already in 1812, but the authorities issued a permit to built Evangelical church only in 1835. Two years later, Evangelical Protestants received a large state-owned square at the newly delimited Konstantego Street, on which, in late summer of 1836, they started to build a church according to the plans of a member of Evangelical community, voivodeship engineer Karol Meyzer.  The building, preserved until today, resembles in many aspects — inter alia shape of the body, façade, and form of the tower — the church of St. Michael erected in accordance with a design by Stanisław Zawadzki in Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki (home town of Meyzer). The completed church was consecrated in 21 November / 3 December 1837. The construction was carried out under the supervision of Kajetan Hołdakowski from Pińczów. In the same time, a two-storey house was built nearby for the pastor, separated from the church by a garden. The church was renovated a number of times (in 1902, the dome structure on the tower was built anew). After the World War II, the number of Evangelical Protestants in Kielce significantly dropped, which translated into impoverishment of the parish and neglecting the building of the church. In the 1960s, the church was leased to a Polish-Catholic parish and its name was changed to St. Peter and Paul's. Since 1968, a preacher station of the Evangelical-Augsburg parish in Radom had operated in Kielce. In 2001, a general renovation of the neglected building was carried out. In September the same year, the church was called the Ecumenical Temple of Peace. The current church of the Holy Trinity is a filial church of the Evangelical-Augsburg parish in Radom and is used by Evangelical Protestants, Polish Catholics, and the faithful of the Christian Church of Evangelical Faith.

Description

The church is located in the southern frontage of Sienkiewicza Street, at its eastern end, near the junction with Ewangelicka Street, just by Moniuszki Square.  It is a free-standing structure situated on the axis transverse to the street, with a narrow, Baroque tower façade along the line of street buildings, and a presbytery on the south.   Nearby, on the western side in the street frontage, there is a two-storey building of the pastor's house (3 Sienkiewicza Street).  The church square is separated from the street by a fence with metal spans.  The church is made of stone and plastered, and comprised of a single-nave body under a low gable roof, and of a two-storey tower. The high, cuboid tower is framed with pilasters and covered with a neo-Gothic dome in the form of a pyramid flanked by pinnacles in the corners. The nine-axis side façades of the nave are pierced with slim windows with semi-circular top sections. Their Classicist style stems from four-column porticos arranged in the Tuscan order, topped with triangular gables and forming, along with the body, a cross plan.  A spacious nave on a rectangular floor plan is covered by a flat roof, with crown molding along the longer sides. The altar was provided with a frame in the form of a deep, semi-circular niche, whose rectangular clearance is flanked by two Tuscan columns. Behind the altar wall, there is a small sacristy with a diagonal ending section. The choir gallery rests on four Tuscan columns and features a balustrade decorated with panels.

The building is open to visitors; the interior may be accessed only during services

Compiled by Anna Adamczyk, 15.12.2014.

Bibliography

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