Today, they remain one of the few tangible traces of the local Evangelical community which has largely disappeared after 1945. The ruins remain an important part of the cultural landscape of the Podlaskie province. They are also one of the few permanent ruins located in the eastern borderlands which remain protected by law.

History

The village of Mieruniszki is located in the former territories of the State of the Teutonic Order; references to this village are included in the so-called treaty of Mełno, concluded between the Teutonic Order and king Władysław Jagiełło in 1422, according to which the boundary between the State of the Teutonic Order and Lithuania would run approximately 1 kilometre east of the village. Despite numerous geopolitical changes that followed, the boundary remained unchanged right until 1945. The first mentions of the Evangelical church date back to 1545. After being destroyed by the Tatars in 1656, the church was rebuilt in 1710. The church, erected in 1710 and possessing a quadrangular tower, houses a Baroque altarpiece from the early 18th century, a pulpit from the same period as well as a few old reliefs. The weathervane gracing the top of the tower was funded in the year 1760. The altarpiece, designed in the so-called Gdańsk Baroque style, was crafted in Olecko. During World War I, the church served as a military mail sorting facility. The church was destroyed during World War II, on the 400th anniversary of the establishment of the local Evangelical parish, and was never rebuilt. In 1992, by resolution of the Commune Council, the ruins were entrusted to the Bishop’s Curia in Olsztyn.

Description

The Evangelical church ruins are located in the immediate vicinity of the Gołdap-Filipów-Suwałki road, on a hill rising on the eastern shore of the Mieruńskie Wielkie lake; though largely abandoned and overgrown with trees, this spot had once been the very centre of the surrounding village. The church was originally designed in the Gothic style and saw various alteration works in the course of its lifetime; influences of the Dutch Classicism can still be discerned in its outline despite the dilapidated state of the entire structure. The church was designed on a rectangular floor plan, its chancel featuring a semi-hexagonal end section. The tower, designed on a square floor plan, adjoins the south-western side of the structure and is positioned on the axis of the church. The patrons’ gallery and vestibule are positioned on the north-western side of the main body, each of them designed on an identical floor plan. The church was a masonry structure made of brick and field stone, its walls covered with plaster. The best-preserved section of the church it its three-storey tower, with panelled frieze separating the individual storeys. A number of slender blind windows adorn the tower walls, as does the pointed-arch portal positioned on the axis of its front façade, flanked by a pair of semi-circular niches. A segment-headed window aperture with splayed reveals is positioned directly above the portal. Originally, the tower featured a tented roof, while the nave was covered by a gable roof.

The historical monument is accessible.

compiled by Iwona Górska, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Białystok, 20-10-2014.

Bibliography

• Kujawski W., Mazury Garbate, szlak wodny/ Ein Wasserweg, Olsztyn 2009, pp. 126, fig. 125, 127.
• Orłowicz M., Ilustrowany przewodnik po Mazurach Pruskich i Warmii, Warszawa-Lwów 1923, p. 81.
• Archival photos: Herder-Institut, Bildkatalog, inventory no. 178144 (www.herder-institut.de/) and http://www.bildarchiv-ostpreussen.de