It is a valuable testimony to the continuity of the town’s history and an example of wooden sacral architecture of southern Wielkopolska.

History of the structure

In the pre-feudal period, an ancient Slavic settlement existed in the Stary Krotoszyn area. Until the beginning of the 15th century, the history of the settlement was not recorded in historical chronicles. The oldest owners and heirs of Krotoszyn were the Łodzia family, a powerful family from Wielkopolska. The town was founded in 1415 by Wierzbięta from the Krotoszyn Łodzia family upon a privilege granted by King Władysław Jagiełło. The name of the village signifies the ownership of the Krotoszy. During the period of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the town was owned by Polish noble and magnate families. At the end of the 16th century Krotoszyn became a significant centre of trade and craft, especially brewing and weaving, in this part of Wielkopolska. In the early 18th century the town declined as a result of wars and epidemics. The second Swedish invasion (1704-1717) and the plague epidemic (1708-1710) were particularly severe, when the completely ruined town had several hundred inhabitants. Krotoszyn rose from decline in the last years of pre-partition Poland when in 1725 the Kiev Governor Józef Pilawa Potocki became the owner of the Krotoszyn estate and the town. Serfdom was abolished in favour of rent and allowances were introduced for settling craftsmen. After the second partition of Poland in 1793 the town passed into Prussian hands. The Krotoszyn district was created at that time and in 1807 it was incorporated into the Duchy of Warsaw. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the town returned to Prussia, within the borders of the Grand Duchy of Poznań. The Germans established an administrative and judicial centre in Krotoszyn, many district offices and institutions were created. In 1819 the Prussian government handed over the Krotoszyn property to prince Charles von Thurn und Taxis in exchange for a postal monopoly in Rhineland and Westphalia. From then on, the town together with the surrounding estates constituted the so-called Duchy of Krotoszyn. After World War I, Krotoszyn, liberated on 1 January 1919, by insurgents from the Wielkopolska region, found itself within the borders of the reborn Polish state. The town maintained its former agricultural and industrial character. After World War II, Krotoszyn remained the seat of the district and town-commune authorities. The origins of the parish and the church of St. Mary Magdalene in Stary Krotoszyn, surrounded by a cemetery, probably date back to the 11th and 12th centuries; however, the first reference to Krotoszyn does not appear until 1405 and the existence of the parish at that time is confirmed by priest Jan, parish priest in Krotoszyn (Stary Krotoszyn) who wrote down the town charter in 1415. The parish in Stary Krotoszyn at the church of St. Mary Magdalene existed until 1419, when it was moved to the newly established Krotoszyn and the church in Stary Krotoszyn served as a filial church. Over the next centuries it was rarely used for services and deteriorated. It was demolished in the mid- 18th century. In 1755, thanks to the efforts of the Krotoszyn parish priest, Father Piotr Rokossowski, a new, also wooden church was erected, which exists to this day. The building was thoroughly renovated in 1830. In the 19th and 20th centuries the temple was a place of penitential pilgrimages and indulgences. After World War II, thanks to the efforts of the priest Wiktor Miedziński, the roof was thoroughly repaired, and from 1962 Sunday masses were celebrated in the temple. In 1969, a major renovation of the church was carried out, during which the foundations were partially replaced with a plastered foundation, new plank ceilings were made, the old brick floor was removed, replaced with concrete screed, a lightning protection system was installed and the choir’s balustrade was replaced In 1994 the lighting of the church and the electrical installation were modernized. In 1994, a parish was re-established at the church of St. Mary Magdalene, but the church proved too small for the needs of the community. In 1997, the construction of a new brick temple began, the patron of which was the blessed Bishop Michał Kozal. On 15 May 2011 as a result of fire, the southern and eastern chancel framework and the chancel floor were burned. The historic painting of St. Mary Magdalene was severely damaged from the heat. Thanks to the quick and efficient action, the building was saved. The temple was renovated in the years 2013-2015.

Description of the structure

Krotoszyn is a city in southern Wielkopolska, in the Kalisz Upland, located at the crossroads of roads from Poznań to Wrocław and Ostrów to Rawicz. The Church of St. Mary Magdalene is located on a small plot of land in the northern part of the town, formerly belonging to the village of Stary Krotoszyn, at the intersection of Łacnowa and Wiejska Streets. The rectangular church grounds are surrounded by a chain-link fence and are accessible through a gate in the west and a wicket in the southeast corner. The church grounds are covered with grass and planted with trees. The church is a wooden, oriented building, built on a wooden foundation with a base made of fieldstone and partly of brick. The wooden walls are of a log construction, boarded from the outside with vertical overlapping boards, the base is boarded horizontally. A single-nave church with a rectangular, nearly square-shaped nave and a narrower rectangular presbytery closed on three sides. In the west, on the extension of the nave, there is a rectangular porch, the width of which is equal to that of the nave, with symmetrical storerooms on the sides. At the north wall of the chancel is a rectangular sacristy covering the corner of the nave. The body of the church is compact, with the dominant nave covered with a gable roof, and the lower and narrower chancel covered with a gable roof ending in a three-span gable. The sacristy and porch are covered with a shed roof. The whole is covered with wood shingles. Elevations with a separated stepped plinth covered with a small wooden eaves. The walls above the plinth are boarded vertically with overlapping boards, and the corners are accented with a similar formwork protruding in front of the wall face. The southern elevation is segmented with symmetrically located window openings and an axially located entrance to the nave. The façades are flanked on one level by a prominent, strongly profiled cornice covered with eaves, which on the western elevation turns into a shingled eaves. The single-nave interior has a rectangular nave and a narrower chancel separated by a narrow wing. The rood opening of the church is crowned with a semicircular arch, overhanging and framed by two massive quadrilateral columns. In the western part of the nave there is a choir gallery with profiled beams topped with pointed-arch volutes, supported on two pillars placed on plinths. The window openings are framed by prominent surrounds. The ceilings of the nave, chancel and porch are flat. Noteworthy in the church is a Baroque crucifix from the 17th century and a folk painting of Mary Magdalene from the 19th century.

Visitor access: the church may be visited during mass

Compiled by: Beata Marzęta, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Poznań, 08.09.2017

Bibliography

• Anders P., Województwo kaliskie, Warszawa-Poznań 1983, pp. 225-232
• Brykowski R., Wielkopolskie Kościoły Drewniane, Poznań 2001; p. 133
• Drewniane kościoły Wielkopolski, Poznań 2004, p. 127
• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, Vol. V, z. 11, p. 55
• Krotoszyn, ed. Dionizy Kosiński, Krotoszyn-Poznań 1996, Vol. 2, pp. 155-156