History

The parish in Nowa Biała was established in 1500. The old Spiš records give the date of 1278, but the original document has not survived. There was probably an earlier wooden temple there dated 1500, but it burned down in 1625. In 1632 a new wooden church was built but was destroyed soon after. In 1748 the contemporary church was built. In 1752 a fire consumed part of the church, only the walls survived. In the 1780s, the temple was rebuilt. In 1922 the tower was altered. The church has been renovated several times.

Description

It stands in the middle of the village. It is an example of a Baroque provincial church from the 18th century. The architectural solutions applied in the building are typical for the Spiš Baroque. It is an oriented, single-nave temple with a wider, rectangular nave and a semicircularly closed chancel. From the north, the sacristy partly adjoins the chancel and the nave. A porch was added to the nave from the north. There is a square tower to the west, topped with cornices and an onion cupola with a lantern. A single-ridge roof has an ave bell turret with a spherical cupola. The interior has a sail vault supported on perpendicular arches and Baroque stucco between them. The walls are divided by pilasters. The church is built of brick and covered with metal sheet. The façades are plastered and are free of any design articulation. The building is enclosed by a stone wall, within which the remains of a church graveyard can be seen.  The portal at the sacristy entrance dates from 1781. The interior equipment is mostly Baroque from the 18th century. In the main altar there is an 18th-century oil painting depicting the martyrdom of St Catherine. It is partly covered by another painting, the 18th-century Mother of God with Child among Angels. The confessional from 1744 bears some folk ornaments. The church treasury boasts a valuable monstrance from 1766. It was funded by Jan Wincenty Pawlak and made by Jan Szilassy, a famous goldsmith from Levoča. On the left side of the church, there is a classicist pulpit from 1831 with a painting of a sower dressed in a typical Spiš outfit.

The site is available from the outside all year round and inside during services.

Author of the note Olga Dyba, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Kraków 23/10/2014

Bibliography

• Janicka-Krzywda U.; Zabytkowe kościoły Orawy, Spisza, Podhala, Gorców i Pienin. Kraków 1987.
• Grochowski J., W Nowej Białej na Spiszu. Kraków 2007.