Initially, it was erected in the Gothic style. in the 19th century it was reconstructed in the Classicist style to the design of Henryk Marconi. The current form of the church is a result of a reconstruction carried out in the years 1907-1911 to the design of Józef Pius Dziekoński.

History

The parish was established already in the 13th/14th century. The construction of another wooden church took place in 1422. The wooden temple was demolished and re-erected by use of fired brick in the 16th century by descendants of Janusz of Gościańczyce (already bearing the Miński name). In 1530 a part of Miński family estates was transferred to the castellan of Sochaczew, later of Sandomierz as well, Mikołaj Wolski. Mikołaj Wolski took over the chapel of the Holy Trinity. In the late 16th century, during one of the fires of the town, the Mińsk parish burned down. It was rebuilt in the first decade of the 17th century and the last restoration works were carried out in 1629. The church was rebuilt owing to Stanisław Miński’s own funds. After his death in 1607 the reconstruction was funded by his family. Local nobility and bourgeoisie also contributed to the reconstruction and decoration of the temple’s interior. In 1617 Stanisław Warszycki bequeathed a considerable amount of money to the church, owing to which the reconstruction could be completed. New altars in the church and chapels were funded. in the first half of the 17th century as many as 12 altars were consecrated. The church also acquired two organs and a permanent organ player. We need to underline that at that time the church was one of the most splendid temples of Mazovia and included numerous works of art in its interior. These included, among others: a painting of Madonna in the Miński family’s chapel - brought from Italy by Stanisław Miński, and two beautiful paintings in the Arynek family chapel. They were recorded in a protocol of bishop Wawrzyniec Goślicki’s visit to the parish in 1603. These paintings have not survived to our times. they were lost during the Deluge. The reconstruction of the burnt church was completed by Canon of Warsaw, the long term parish-priest of the church in Mińsk - Rev. Prokop Kostecki. The church was consecrated in 1629 by the suffragan and abbot of Płock, Rev. Stanisław Starczewski, who also dedicated the grand altar of St Anna and St Nicholas. The temple of then represented a Gothic style (which is attested by a preserved apse), had one nave and a short, rectangular chancel - equal in width to the nave, and a sacristy located behind the chancel/ From 1795 onwards the parish of Mińsk belonged to the Lublin diocese and the deanery of Liw and Garwolin. In 1818, on the basis of a bull of Pope Pius VII“Ex imposita nobis”, it was assigned to the Archbishopric of Warsaw. In the 1840s, by efforts and funds of Count Stanisław Jezierski, who was an owner of the town from 1807, the Gothic front façade of the church was replaced with the Classicist style. At that time, buttresses in the main nave were removed and replaced with bottle screws to balance the vault. Two of the three neglected family chapels were demolished and the church cemetery was completely shut down. The church obtained its current form in the years 1908-1911 when side naves, towers, a new sacristy and chapel were added to the design of Józef Dziekoński and a transept was ultimately shaped. The crypt under the St Anthony chapel was cleaned and filled with sand (the crypt was probably a burial place of one of the local noble families - the window to the crypt was bricked up in 1995). These works were carried out by Canon Kazimierz Sobolewski, the long term parish-priest of the Mińsk parish. After the expansion the church obtained a Baroque style. The reconstructed church was consecrated in 1914 by Archbishop Aleksander Kakowski. In the late 1970s district heating system was connected to the church and in 1979 the whole interior with altars was renovated in white, ochre and gold by a Cracow-based painter, Jan Mitka. Outside, a new façade was made of lime plaster. In the 1980s a new floor made of grey marble was laid. These works were undertaken and completed by Prelate Henryk Klizner.

Description

The church is a brick building with plastered walls. The church has three naves, set on a Latin cross floor plan. It has a basilica layout with a transept. The temple consists of the main nave and two side naves, an entrance porch surmounted by a choir gallery, a chancel with a sacristy and a chapel on its sides. Behind the chancel that terminates in a square arch, there is an old sacristy, equal in width and with stepped buttresses, with a treasury on the upper floor, covered with a barrel vault with lunettes. A four-bay nave and a single-bay chancel with a cross-barrel vault on pairs of arches. A rood arch with semicircular arches. A transept opening towards the naves with arcades with semicircular arches. Inside, the walls of the main nave are partitioned by rectangular pillars braced by pairs of Tuscan pilasters. The nave and presbytery are encompassed by entablature with a profiled cornice, multiplied on corners at the rood. Outside, the northern arm of the transept with rounded corners, accentuated by Tuscan pilasters, crowned with a volute and a triangular pediment. On the church pediment there is a bell tower and a pair of pinnacles. On the sides, the temple is decorated by small buttresses and blind windows. On the church tower there is a Mariavite emblem, while an image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help was built into the apse. The temple includes gable and pent roofs and a three-sloped roof over the sacristy, all clad with copper sheet.

The feature is open to visitors throughout the year.

Compiled by Katarzyna Kosior, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Warsaw, 25-11-2014.

Bibliography

• K. Szczypiorski, ''Historia kościoła pod wezwaniem Narodzenia NMP'' /Rocznik Mińska Mazowieckiego, z. 1.
• K. Szczypiorski, ''Sanktuaria Maryjne w Polsce - Mińsk Mazowiecki''. Zorza - rodzinny magazyn katolików, nr 32/33, 12-19 sierpień 1990 r.
•  ''Dzieje Mińska Mazowieckiego 1421-1971'', pod red. J. Kazimierskiego, W-wa 1976 r.
• Kronika parafii Narodzenia NMP w Mińsku Mazowieckim.
• Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów Słowiańskich, Tom IV, Warszawa 1880 r.
• Atlas Zabytków Architektury w Polsce, H. Faryna-Paszkiewicz, M. Omilanowska, R. Pasieczny, Wydawnictwo naukowe PWN. Warszawa 2003 r.
• J. Żabicki, Leksykon zabytków architektury Mazowsza i Podlasia, Arkady, Warszawa 2010 r.
• Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, Tom X Województwo Warszawskie, zeszyt 8 powiat mińsko - mazowiecki, Instytut Sztuki PAN, Warszawa 1968 r.