The walls of modern interiors reveal preserved relics of the older, late Gothic and Mannerist murals.

History

The original church was wooden and was said to have been burnt by the Tatars in 1241. A new one, mentioned in the Peter’s pence of 1326, was consecrated in 1345 by Bishop Jan Grot of Kraków. The present church was built of white stone in the 15th century by Dorota of Tarnów, the widow of Marcin of Rytwiany, the governor of Łęczyca (as Jan Długosz put it in Liber Beneficiorum, “Lapide albo per Dorotheam de Tharnow, relictam Martini de Lubnicze palatyni Lanciciensis muratam…”). In the 1st half of the 17th century, the church underwent considerable transformations: in 1610 a tower was added, ca. 1613-1625 Katarzyna nee Leszczyńska, widow of Andrzej Tenczyński, castellan of Bełz, funded a chapel of the Virgin Mary of the Rosary, ca. 1625 the interior was converted into the early Baroque style. Probably as a result of the demolition by Rakoczy’s troops in 1657, the church was re-consecrated in 1664. In 1855 and after WW2, thorough renovations were carried out; between 2001 and 2008, the façades and roof were repaired and the church interior was conserved. Already in the 21st century, the remaining buildings of the complex were refurbished: the belfry (built ca. 1825), the fence and the rectory (also erected ca. 1825).

Description

The sacred complex composed of the parish church, the gate-belfry, the fence and the rectory sits in the east part of Staszów. The church is oriented. The parish cemetery lies east of the church. The north wall of the temple’s body adjoins the Virgin Mary of the Rosary Chapel; the tower rises touches the façade. The church reveals some Gothic features (outside) as well as those of Mannerism and Baroque (inside). It has a rectangular nave and a presbytery, which is narrower, slightly elongated and closed on three sides. From the west, the nave touches a square belfry with a circular staircase in its south-west corner. It leads to the choir and attic. From the north, the nave adjoins a square chapel, and the presbytery a rectangular sacristy. To the south, there is a low porch. The body consists of a high nave and a lower presbytery covered with a multi-hipped roof, a tall, pyramid-like belfry with a hipped roof, a cylindrical staircase at the tower, a cubic chapel with the octagonal drum with a cupola and a lantern and a sacristy covered with a lean-to roof. The walls are built of sandstone blocks and plastered. The interiors are decorated with stuccowork, the chapel with different, coloured marble. The roofs are covered with copper sheets. The outer walls are supported by Gothic buttresses; inside, there are modern lunette vaults. In the ground level of the tower, there is the main entrance portal with the date of 1342 imprinted in the plaster. The entrance to the staircase is located on the south side. The windows of the nave, presbytery and chapel have semi-circular lintels; some of them are the oculi. The outer walls of the church are smooth, the walls of the chapel are rusticated. The interior of the church features a lunette vault supported by pilasters. The presbytery and the chapel open to the interior of the nave with semicircular arches. The west part of the nave contains a wooden choir. The vault of the presbytery is decorated with the late Renaissance stuccowork in the Lublin style. On the east wall, some original Gothic vault supports have been preserved in the form of human faces. Above the entrance to the sacristy, there is a description and date of re-consecration of the temple (1664). The interior of the chapel is on a square plan, on which a circular (octagonal on the outside) drum is rested on pendants - all covered with a cupola. The interior walls are split by pilasters supporting the full, mitred entablature and embracing the arcade altar bays. Above them, there are depressed arches with the oculi with splayed reveals; on pendants, there are vivid, Mannerist heraldic cartouches with the coats of arms of the Tenczyńskis (Topór) and Leszczyńskis (Wieniawa). Inside the church, preserved have been some late Gothic murals of ca. 1460-1480 (with St Bartholomew), Mannerist murals of ca. 1625-1635 and from the mid-17th century (the image of St Leonard in the chancel arch) and the fittings of the 17th and 18th centuries. The belfry and the rectory resembling a manor house are neoclassical in style, the surrounding wall is styleless.

The building is open to visitors; a site of worship.

Compiled by Leszek Polanowski, 14.12.2014.

Bibliography

• Bazak A., Parafia świętego Bartłomieja w Staszowie 1918-2000. Zarys dziejów. Sandomierz: 2005.
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• Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, t. III: Województwo kieleckie, z. 11: Powiat sandomierski, oprac. Jerzy Z. Łoziński i Tadeusz Przypkowski, Warszawa 1962, s. 103-108.
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• Siek W., Opis historyczny parafii i miasta Staszów do 1918 r., Sandomierz 1937.
• Wiśniewski J., Dekanat sandomierski, Radom 1915.