History

A local church was mentioned in written sources for the first time in 1298. The first church was dedicated to the Birth of St John the Baptist and to St Hedwig; from 1673, it was dedicated to St Hedwig and St Matthias. The present church, built in the 2nd half of the 17th century, was consecrated in 1673. The building was renovated in 1784. A tomb chapel of the Potocki family, who owned the neighbouring village of Będlewo, was built onto the church in 1854. A new sacristy, designed by Lucjan Michałowski, was added in 1936. Later, the church was renovated twice: in 1959, the thatch roof covering was replaced with wood shingles, and in 1962, the interior was redecorated.

Description

The church is located in a picturesque setting, on a small hill at a fork in a road, amid trees, in the centre of a graveyard. The church yard is enclosed with a fence with two gates, each of which has a large opening in the centre and two wicket gates on the sides. There is a wooden bell tower beside the church.

The church is oriented towards the east. It has a rectangular floor plan. The chancel, terminating in a semi-hexagon, is adjoined by a brick, octagonal sacristy. On the south side, the church is adjoined by the Renaissance Revival chapel of the Potocki family, built on a square floor plan and containing a burial crypt. The nave and the chancel are covered with a common gable roof covered with wood shingles, with two steeples covered with sheet metal. The chapel and the sacristy have multi-pitched roofs covered with roof tiles.

The building has a wooden log structure. The chapel and the sacristy are made of brick.

The church has one nave (with no aisles). Inside, there is a flat ceiling with rounded corners. There is a Late-Gothic crucifix on the rood beam. The Baroque main altar from c. 1670, founded by Stanisław and Regina Kaczmarek, incorporates a painting of Our Lady of Consolation with the kneeling figures of St Rosalia and St Roch in the central field.

The interior of the chapel of the Potocki family is covered with a groin vault with a rosette. The walls are divided by means of profiled arcades. The arcade leading to the church has a forged iron grill with the date “1854”. In the chapel, there are eight epitaph plaques of the Potockis, made of black marble and set in Renaissance Revival stucco frames, and a Baroque Revival altar dating from 1854.

Next to the church stands the wooden bell tower, constructed in 1863, adjoined by two lower annexes. It has a post-and-beam structure. The walls are covered with weatherboards.

The church is open to visitors. More information, including the Holy Mass schedule, is available on the website of the Poznań Archdiocese: www.archpoznan.pl

compiled by Radomiła Banach, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Poznan, 15-10-2015.

Bibliography

• J. Łukaszewicz, Krótki opis historyczny kościołów parochialnych w dawnej diecezji poznańskiej, Poznań 1858, s.267-9.
• Drewniane kościoły w Wielkopolsce, koncepcja, teksty i wybór fotografii P. Maluśkiewicz, Poznań 2004, s. 147.
• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, t. V, z. 20:dawny powiat poznański, Warszawa 1977, s. 22-23.