The village is also home to a 1932 Lutheran church and two old schools from the turn of the 18th century and the 20th century, which testifies to the robust character of the local Evangelical community.

History

The first recorded mention a wooden church in the village comes from 1447. The church had officially been used by the Evangelicals until 1653. It was also their burial site. Despite being ordered to convert to Catholicism, the Lutheran faithful kept gathering in the church also in the subsequent years. The existing church was built in 1688 after the former temple - mentioned in inspection reports - had been damaged (probably by fire). In 1735 a carpenter with the initials “M.T.” performed some work in the church (perhaps the construction of the south porch), which is evidenced by the inscription over the south entrance to the nave. During the renovation in 1970, a new interior arrangement was made as well as external weatherboards. In the 1990s, the church was robbed of many items of its historic equipment. They have been restored, and all the other fittings have been handed over to the Diocesan Museum in Opole. Since 2005 the church has been managed by the Parish of the Nativity of John the Baptist in Kuniów, earlier in the parishes of Chocianowice, Lasowice Wielkie and Kuniów.

Description

The church is east-oriented, situated in the central part of the village. The plot with a small churchyard is surrounded by a wooden fence.

The plan of the temple features a short, almost square nave, a chancel with a three-sided termination and a square-base tower adjoining the body from the west. South of the nave, there is a square porch added with a side entrance; the sacristy touches the chancel from the north. The body of the church is made up of three main elements: the tapering tower covered with a hipped tented roof, the nave covered with a gable roof with its ridge at the height of the tower eaves and the slightly lower chancel, covered with a double-pitched roof with the extended north plane.

The church is a log structure, reinforced with clamps, on a newer foundation. The façades are shingled, so is the roof. The tower is a post-and-beam structure; its walls are covered with vertically-arranged boarding with trimming strips. The frame structure was used in the south annex.

The interior is covered with a flat, boarded ceiling. The interior walls are covered with wood paneling. At the west wall, there is a choir supported by two profiled posts.

The old church’s fittings and equipment have been stolen in a large part or handed over to the museum; they have been replaced by replicas. Other noteworthy elements are the Baroque architectural main altar with spiral columns from the beginning of the 18th century and framed side altars with auricular woodcarving dating from the mid-18th century. The pulpit dates back to the 17th century and the wooden preaching stand to the 18th century. A metal cross culminates the roof - it was repaired by a local blacksmith after being damaged by wind in 2004.

Accessible historic building. Viewing of the interior by prior telephone arrangement.

Compiled by Ewa Kalbarczyk-Klak, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Opole, 08-12-2014.

Bibliography

• Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, t. VII, Województwo opolskie, z. 10: oleski,  red. T. Chrzanowski i M. Kornecki, s. 14-15.
• Emmerling D., Wierzgoń A., Opolskie kościoły drewniane, Opole 2006, s. 46.
• Lutsch Hans, Verzeichnis der Kunstdenkmäler der Provinz Schlesien, Bd. 4: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Reg.-Bezirks Oppeln, Bd. 2, Breslau 1894, s. 252.
• Karta ewidencyjna zabytku architektury: Kościół filialny p.w. św. Wniebowzięcia NMP (d.św. Jakuba St.), Lasowice Małe,  oprac. W. Żurakowski, 1999,  Archiwum WUOZ w Opolu.
• http://www.lasowice.eu,  dostęp 8.12.2014 r.