In addition, the church features Renaissance tombstones.

Not far from the church was a seventeenth-century manor house of the Pückler family still in the 1950s. Only a gate leading to the area of the former manor house complex has been preserved to this day. The park features one of the oldest pedunculate oak in the Opole region called the "Pückler's Oak", under which there is a boulder bearing with an inscription commemorating the duel, which, according to a legend, took place there in the 16th century.

History

The earliest mentions of the church in Szydłowiec Śląski date back to the 14th century. It was a Catholic Church of the Mother of God. In the 16th century, ownership of the village passed to the Pückler family, whose members were Protestant. In 1616-1617, the old church was demolished and a new masonry one was built through the efforts of the owner of Szydłowiec, Hans Pückler and his wife Helen. The builder of that Evangelical church was Antonio Rusco from Offen. In addition, the new fittings and fixtures, including altar, pulpit, baptismal font and crucifix, were ordered from Hermann Fischer (sculptor) and Caspar Winckler (painter). The church was dedicated to the Saviour.

In 1629, under the Edict of Restitution of emperor Ferdinand II Habsburg, the church was taken over by Catholics. Around the mid-20th century, the church was adapted for use as a smithy. In the 1960s, the church went under the care of the parish in Niemodlin.

Description

The church is located in the centre of the village, halfway from Niemodlin to Lewin Brzeski. It is located on a plot in the shape similar to an oval and surrounded by a stone wall with an entrance on the axis.

The church is oriented towards the east, built of crushed stone and brick. It was erected on a rectangular floor plan with a small quadrangular sacristy (with a gallery on the first floor) next to the northern side of the chancel and a tower incorporated in the westernmost part of the main body. The façades are smoothly plastered with window openings of the nave topped with a round arch, enclosed in surrounds and a rectangular entrance opening on the axis and varied windows in the tower part (pointed-arched, segmental-arched and rectangular windows). The façade of the tower, just above the entrance door, was fitted with a foundation plaque with an inscription and the Pückler and Odrowąż coats of arms. The church is covered with a saddle roof with a roof plane extending over the sacristy. The tower is surmounted by a pronounced crowning cornice and covered with a tented roof.

The interior of the church is covered with a barrel vault with lunettes with stucco decoration in the form of roll-mouldings, while the walls are articulated with pilasters. Over the sacristy, there is a founders' gallery opening towards the interior with an arcade topped with a flattened arch. In the western part of the church, there is a music choir.

The main element of the interior décor is a three-storey main altar made by Hermann Fischer and Caspar Winckler (1616 - inscription on the back of the altar) with iconography typical of Protestant art (predella: scene of the Last Supper, reredos featuring reliefs depicting Crucifixion and Resurrection, and Ascension in the finial) and sculptures of the four prophets.

The décor of the church is complemented by a pulpit with a casing supported by a sculpture of Moses with tablets of the Decalogue and a baptismal font with reliefs depicting scenes of the life of Jesus and crucifix, which were made by the same artists. In addition, the walls of the nave are fitted with Renaissance tombstones, including tombstones depicting children, and the doors to the sacristy feature the preserved decorative handles and fittings around the lock with depictions of St. George struggling with the dragon.

The monument is open to visitors. The church belongs to the Paris of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Niemodlin.

compiled by Aleksandra Ziółkowska, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Opole, 21-01-2015.

Bibliography

• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, vol. VII: Województwo opolskie, issue 8: Powiat niemodliński, red. T. Chrzanowski, M. Kornecki, Warsaw 1962, pp. 49-51.
• Lutsch H., Verzeichnis der Kunstdenkmäler der Provinz Schlesien, vol. 4: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Reg. Bezirks Oppeln, Breslau 1892, pp. 213-215.
• Treści i funkcje ideowe sztuki śląskiej reformacji 1520-1650, J. Harasimowicz, Wrocław 1986