History

It came into being in the years 1217-1227 as a chancel part of the planned monastery church for canons regular. After 1284, when the order was moved to Żagań, it was used as a parish church. In the years 1540-1553, it was taken over by Evangelists, and in the years 1562-1587 it was used by both denominations. From 1611 it was used solely by Catholics. In 1693, the church was extended by a chancel in the place of a Romanesque apse, a tower, a chapel, and a porch. The vault inside was dismantled and replaced with a ceilings. Another re-designing took place in the years 1861-1865. At that time, the chancel was re-designed, and a new sacristy and a chapel were built, and the interior was provided with neo-Gothic décor. Renovation works were carried out in 1926, 1970, and 1992-1994.

Description

The church is located in the riverside, in the fork of Bóbr and Brzeźnica rivers, within a distance of 1.5 km from the town centre. From the south, it neighbours a rectory. The church is oriented. Its architecture, with Romanesque relics, shows features of Gothic, Baroque, and Gothic Revival.

It is made of brick and partly of stone, on a rectangular floor plan, with a polygonal end section, square sacristy and chapel from the south and a quadrangular tower from the west. On the northern side of the tower, there is a utility room, and on the southern side - a cylindrical staircase. The body is covered with a gable roof, the chancel - with a polygonal roof, and the tower is topped with a Baroque tented roof with a lantern, clad in sheet metal. The roofs are clad with ceramic roof tiles. Plastered, buttressed façades are pierced with large pointed-arch windows. The single nave interior is covered with a wooden, stepped, open ceiling. Over the chancel, there is a ribless vaulting with pointed-arch profile. The ground floor of the tower is covered with a double barrel vault. Among the original fittings of the church, a Baroque pulpit and paintings from the 17th and the 18th century have survived.

The site is open to the public. It can be visited by prior telephone arrangement.

compiled by Marta Kłaczkowska, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Zielona Góra, 06-11-2014.

Bibliography

• Kowalski S., Zabytki architektury województwa lubuskiego, Zielona Góra 2010, s. 258-259.
• Garbacz K., Przewodnik po zabytkach województwa lubuskiego, Tom I, Zielona Góra 2011, s. 44.
• Karta ewidencyjna, Kościół paraf. pw. Wniebowzięcia NMP, oprac. M. Kacprzyk, 1994 r., Archiwum Wojewódzkiego Urzędu Ochrony Zabytków w Zielonej Górze.