The use of the site as the overground part of the two-storey church complex is also unusual. The distinctive silhouette of the church is clearly visible in the landscape during the journey by motorway.

History

The church was built in the village of Kostów, in the Kluczbork district, in 1801-1804. It served then as an evangelical church and was distinguished by lavish fixtures and fittings, including, but not limited to, late Gothic main altar moved to it from Łowkowice, epitaphs, late Renaissance chest in the sacristy and single Rococo decorative components. In 1943, the choir and the emperors were rebuilt. The roof cladding was replaced in 1966-1968, when the church was the property of the Evangelical parish in Wołczyn. Shortly afterwards, in 1976-1978, the building was moved to Malnia, where it serves as a Catholic parish church.

Description

In the present location, the church is an overground part of the church complex, located on a hill, on the ceiling of the lower building. It is located at the south-western edge of the village, between voivodeship road no. 423 from Opole to Kędzierzyn-Koźle and the Odra river parallel to it, and about 300 m north of the motorway. The church chancel is facing the west; to the east of the church there is a square/ terrace with an entrance to the lower church. The church consists of a square nave with a small porch on the side of the tower and an adjacent chancel closed off on three sides with a sacristy to the north. The body is dominated by a quadrangular tower erected over the eastern part of the nave, covered with a tall neo-Baroque cupola with a lantern, surmounted by a sphere and a flag bearing the date "1804". The remaining parts of the church are covered with saddle roofs, finished with a short eaves at the walls over a profiled crowning cornice. The sacristy is topped with a shed roof. It was erected as a log structure, with a post-and-beam tower. The roofs are clad with wood shingles, the cupola over the tower with sheet metal. The church is not covered with weatherboards. The single-space interior is covered with a flat ceiling, with overlaid decoration resembling panelling. The choir with a balustrade, which is supported by profiled pillars and slightly arched to the front in the central part, runs along three walls of the nave. The rood beam is straight and bears an inscription. Single window openings in the nave and the chancel are rectangular in shape; the window in the chancel has the shape of a lying oval; the bell openings in the tower are topped with an overhanging segmental arch. The entrance opening in the south façade is surmounted by an arch; the remaining ones are rectangular in shape. The historic fixtures and fittings was not moved together with the church and dates from modern times.

The church can be viewed from the outside; the interior is open to visitors during services or by arrangement with the parish priest.

compiled by Ewa Kalbarczyk-Klak, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Opole, 09-10-2014.

Bibliography

• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, t. VII: Województwo opolskie, z.4: powiat kluczborski, oprac. T. Chrzanowski, M. Kornecki, s. 28.
• Lutsch H., Verzeichnis der Kunstdenkmäler der Provinz Schlesien, Bd. 4: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Reg.-Bezirks Oppeln, T. 2, Breslau 1894, s. 278.
• Dienwiebel H., Oberschlesische Schrottholzkirchen, Breslau 1938.