The tradition of the place has been preserved from the Middle Ages to the present day. The cemetery together with the church is located on the site of the monument of history: Paczków - Old Town Complex with a Medieval System of Fortifications.

History

The church was built in a medieval cemetery, on the site formerly occupied by a wooden, probably thirteenth-century church of Corpus Christ and St. John the Evangelist, which was dismantled because of its poor technical condition in the late 16th century. The church was consecrated in 1606, maintaining St. John as patron of the church. The body of the masonry building consists of a buttressed main body closed off on three sides and covered with a gable roof, and a western tower surmounted by a cupola. The vaulted interior covered with architectural painted decorations was fitted with a wooden choir and furnishings from the 17th-18th centuries. In March 1945, the church was destroyed as a result of war hostilities. After many years of reflection on the fate of the church, in 1974 it was decided to secure it as a permanent ruin.

Description

To the south-east of the parish church, behind the town walls, there is a former cemetery with the remains of the church from the early 17th century. The church designed in Renaissance style, oriented towards the east, and built of stone and brick was destroyed at the end of World War 2. Only a tower, without a cupola, and peripheral walls of the nave up to about 2 m in height have survived. The tower façades, divided into four storeys, are decorated with arcaded blind windows. Slender bipartite mullioned windows allow more light into the interior. The east façade bears visible traces of a truss once installed over the nave.

The cemetery is open to the public; entry to the church tower is protected.

compiled by Joanna Szot, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Opole, 01-02-2015.

Bibliography

• Christ E., Patschkau aus der Geschichte meiner Heimatstadt, Dülmen 1989
• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, vol. VII: Województwo opolskie, issue 9: Powiat nyski, prepared by T. Chrzanowski, M. Kornecki, Warsaw 1963
• Lutsch H., Verzeichnis der Kunstdenkmäler der Provinz Schlesien, Bd. 4: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Reg.-Bezirks Oppeln, Tl. 1, Breslau 1890
• Mohr H.G., Schiller L., 1254-2004.750 Jahre Patschkau. Die Geschichte der Stadt Patschkau in Schlesien, Osnabrück 2004
• Zabytki sztuki w Polsce. Śląsk, collective work, Warsaw 2006.