History

The church was erected in years 1696-98, originally serving as the cemetery chapel of the Holy Cross. Its design is attributed to Martin Urban, an architect who remained active in Krzeszów at the time.

Description

The building is located in the southern part of the town; it is surrounded by the cemetery. Designed in the Baroque style, the church is a brick and stone building of a single-nave design, erected on a rectangular floor plan with longer axis positioned along the north-south line. The design does not incorporate a tower. The three-bay body of the church is covered with a three-sided roof. The chancel is clearly distinguishable from the rest of the structure and features a semi-hexagonal termination covered with a separate, multi-faceted roof. The façades are covered with plaster and accentuated by lesenes positioned in a rhythmic arrangement. At the top, below the eaves, there is a profiled crowning cornice. The windows in the upper parts of the walls are topped with semicircular arches and adorned with stone surrounds with imposts and keystones. The windows are divided into small, square panes. The main entrance in the northern façade features a semi-circular portal with a keystone and a mitred pediment with an outline in the shape of basket-handle arch. Below the pediment runs a frieze incorporating the date 1698. The interior features a barrel vault with lunettes, with two rows of chapels on both sides of the nave, separated by rows of pillars. A wooden gallery rises above the chapels in the second and third bay as well as in the end section towards the north. The church features relatively lavishly interior fixtures and fittings designed in the Baroque style and Classicist style, including the main altarpiece from 1803, incorporating the sculpture of the Virgin Mary with Child and St Anne from the fitst quarter of the 16th century (which was not originally part of the altarpiece) as well as the side altarpieces dating back to 1702, the choir stalls from the 18th century and a number of figures and oil paintings dating back to the same century. A disused cemetery surrounded by a late 18th-century wall stretches around the church; the wall underwent a redesign in the late 19th and early 20th century.

The church is only used occasionally. For more information, please contact the parish office.

compiled by Piotr Roczek, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Wrocław, 19-06-2015.

Bibliography

• Słownik Geografii Turystycznej Sudetów. Vol. 8 Kotlina Kamiennogórska. Wzgórza Bramy Lubawskiej. Zawory, M. Staffa (ed.), Wrocław 1997, pp. 211, 213-214
• Zabytki sztuki w Polsce. Śląsk, Warsaw 2006, p. 508.