History

The temple was erected in the years 1235-1247, probably as a private church of the owner of the key - Mściwój Pobóg. In 1601 a sacristy was added from the North. In 1726 the western corpus of the church was demolished and the nave was extended to the West. At the beginning of the 20th century a tower  was added in the south-western corner of the church, as well as the northern  chapel (most probably in the place of non-existent Medieval, wooden one) and a southern porch (in the place of older, 18th century one).

Description

The structure is located directly over the steep slope of the valley of the Warta River. In close vicinity of the church, within the area of the adjacent cemetery, there is a prehistorical cemetery recognised.  The oldest structural constituent of the church with Romanesque features was preserved, consisting of the apse, short presbytery and a nave. Western corpus of the original structural constituent was not preserved. The apse has a window with a semicircular arch from the western side with a preserved minor extension of the church. The walls of the original nave from the western side feature a preserved minor extension of the church. From the North there is a sacristy added in 1601 on a rectangular floor plan, partly obscuring the northern windows of the nave, covered with a barrel vault. Further development of the shape of the temple (extension of the nave to the West, adding the northern chapel, tower and southern porch) did not blur the transparency of the oldest phase of the church construction. The structure is made of full ceramic brick, the walls of the oldest building are made of bricks with traces of stone treatment. There are stone foundations of erratic boulders loosely laid in the ground, without a mortar. The church is unplastered, with preserved decorative joints (in the Romanesque part), the apse is crowned with an arcade frieze. The interior has partly exposed walls brickwork of the original part of the church. Under the existing main altar an original altar stone was preserved. In the southern wall there are two square niches, most probably the sacramentarium. Presbytery is covered by a barrel vault and is separated from the nave with a rood arch with wall painting fragments placed directly on the wall surface in the south-western corner. Moreover, there are painting relics connected with the time of the construction of sacristy. The nave has a flat, wooden ceiling. In the southern wall there is an initial portal preserved with a sandstone tympanum, with representation of the beast devouring most probably the locusts. Next to it there are numerous inscriptions and traces of use of fire drills. In the walls of the northern and southern nave there are original windows featuring semi-circular arches, with a stepped form of door reveals.

Limited access to the historic building. The church may be visited during holidays, on weekdays - upon consultation with a parish priest.

Compiled by Paweł Filipowicz, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Łódź, 05.08.2014.

Bibliography

• Filipowicz P., Kajzer L., Lechowicz Z., Późnoromański kościół p.w. Świętej Urszuli i Jedenastu Tysięcy Dziewic w Strońsku nad Wartą. Interwencyjne badania architektoniczne w latach 2005-2006, „Ochrona Zabytków” 2006, no 4.
• Kajzer L. (ed.), Początki architektury sakralnej w Polsce, part. 1, Łódź 2009.