History

The town of Ryczywół obtained municipal rights before 1426; in 1684 it was chartered once again, only to lose its municipal rights in 1934. In 1843, one third of all of the local residents were Evangelicals, yet it was only in 1889 that an Evangelical community was established as a result of the division of the community in Bukowiec. The pastor of Bukowiec continued to serve both communities until 1906. The Evangelical church in Ryczywół was erected in years 1896-98. After 1945, pursuant to the act on the nationalisation of mortmain property, the church was acquired by the State Treasury and used as a warehouse, its initial operator being the diary in Ryczywół. During the 1970s, the sacristy was lost to the blaze, while the roof of the tower was dismantled during subsequent years.

Description

The Evangelical church is located in the western part of Ryczywół, standing opposite the park in the former village of Łopiszewo, which has subsequently become a part of Ryczywół itself. The area surrounding the church is partially overgrown with trees and circumscribed by a wooden fence supported by brick posts and foundation.

The church is an oriented building with the main façade facing towards the south-west, its walls made of exposed brick. The church consists of a tall tower with a low annex, dominating the western façade, the main nave and the slightly lower chancel, with a squat sacristy adjoining the structure to the north. The church is accessed through a profiled, pointed-arch main portal. Its side façades follow a four-axial design, their walls pierced with paired arched windows and oculi. The dominant feature of the façade of the chancel are three stepped buttresses. The church is covered with a gable roof above the nave, featuring small dormer windows; the chancel has a multi-faceted roof with four planes. Both sections of the roof are clad with dark, overlapping ceramic roof tiles. The open, queen post roof truss structure features decorative exposed sections, its underside clad with wooden boards. The chancel features a semi-hexagonal termination and a groin vault resting on arched supports. A chancel arch wall with a pointed arch separates the chancel and the nave. The chancel ceiling shows traces of blue polychrome decorations depicting a starred sky, while the lower parts of the walls feature remnants of a red, geometric decoration painted on a bright background. The surviving interior fixtures and fittings include the brick plinths of the altar stone and the pulpit (the latter featuring a wooden, Gothic Revival cupola), the wooden structure of the western gallery, the pipe organ casing and the original double door leading into the church as well as the second door separating the porch on the ground floor of the tower and the main nave.

The church can be viewed from the outside.

compiled by Tomasz Łuczak, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Poznań, 14-11-2014.

Bibliography

• Golon A., Steffani J., Posener evangelische Kirche Ihre Gemeinden un Pfarrer, Luneburg 1967.
• Werner Albert, Geschichte der evangelischen Parochien in der Provinz Posen, Lissa 1904, s. 101.
• Karta ewidencyjna zabytków architektury i budownictwa, Ryczywół - kościół poewangelicki, oprac. Krzyślak Bolesława, 2001, Archiwum Wielkopolskiego Wojewódzkiego Konserwatora Zabytków w Poznaniu.