It has preserved its authentic form and Baroque furnishings. A building of regional importance that creates a complex of great landscape values.

History of the structure

The village of Nosków belonged to the Noskowski family of the Zaręba coat of arms. In the 16th century it belonged to the Dobrzycki family, and in the 17th century to the Gajewski family. The earliest information about the parish comes from 1433. The then existing temple was rebuilt in the second half of the 17th century by Chryzostom Dobrzycki. The heavily damaged temple was demolished and in its place, in 1749, a new wooden church was built, founded by Józef Dobrzycki. In ca. 1870, the church underwent comprehensive restoration. In 1927 a new brick sacristy was added on the south side and a porch located in the ground floor of the tower was incorporated. During a major renovation in the 1950s, the foundations of the church were replaced, supplemented and strengthened and the shingled roof was repositioned. Further renovations took place in 1980, 1990, 1994, during which the interior was repainted, a wooden mortuary was built, and the rafter framing, walls and roofing were impregnated.

Description of the structure

Nosków village is located about 8 km south-west of Jarocin. Situated by the road to Pogorzela, it is in Jarocin district, in Jaraczewo municipality. The Holy Trinity Church is situated in the southwestern part of the village at the crossroads, on the extension of the road leading to Rusk. Near the church is a historic wooden bell tower from the 18th century and a contemporary brick pre-burial chapel. It is surrounded by a stone wall with a main gate on the south side and two side wickets on the east and west side. Outside the church fence, the rectory and the Catholic Home are located.

The church is oriented, one-nave, built on a rectangular floor plan, with a flat, not separated, closed three-sided chancel. A quadrangular sacristy was added to the chancel from the south.

The church is covered with a gable roof over the chancel with a three-span closure. The sacristy is covered with a three-hipped roof. All the roofs are covered with wood shingles. The whole is dominated by a tower merged into the western part of the nave, covered with a tented roof and topped with an openwork metal cross.

The building is wooden, of log construction with a tower of post-and-beam structure. All walls are reinforced on both sides with vertical supports, which are articulated on the outside with visible boarding.

Window openings and door portals have retained their original shapes, divisions, and materials.

The interior is single-space, closed trilaterally. The chancel is accented with a profiled rood beam with a Baroque Passion group. In the western part of the nave there is a music gallery with an openwork balustrade, suspended on profiled beams and supported on two pillars.

Inside, the ceiling with a crown moulding decorated with an ornamental frieze with incorporated tondos with images of saints and Eucharistic symbols made by Wiktor Gosieniecki in 1928. In the middle of the nave ceiling, the composition refers to Marian symbolism with motifs of foliate scrollwork.  

The Baroque furnishings of the church include the main altarpiece dating back to the mid- 17th century – with the sculptures of St. Barbara and Mary Magdalene. Two side altars from about 1720 with paintings of the Virgin Mary with Child and Christ in the Crown of Thorns, a rococo pulpit and baptismal font from the first half of the 17th century.

Visitor access: The site can be accessed from the outside. Visiting the church inside is possible by prior telephone arrangement. More information, including the Holy Mass schedule, is available on the website of the Kalisz diocese.

Compiled by: Radomiła Banach, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Poznań, 25.09.2017

Bibliography

• E.Callier, Powiat kaliski w XVI wieku,
• Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego, Vol. VII, p. 184
• Drewniane kościoły w Wielkopolsce, koncepcja, teksty i wybór fotografii P. Maluśkiewicz, Poznań 2004, p. 169.
• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, Vol. V, z. 16: pow. jarociński, Warsaw 19591, pp. 11-12