History

Count Antoni Ostrowski founded a weavers’ settlement in Tomaszów. The first weavers came and settled here in 1823, mainly from the Prussian partition. Most of them were Protestants. Therefore, the owner of the town set about establishing an Evangelical parish and started the construction of a church at St. Joseph Square (now T. Kościuszko’s Square). The building shell was completed a year later. The finishing works and the installation of fixtures and fittings lasted until 1829. The Evangelicals were also given a townhouse in the same frontage, with an apartment for the pastor and an elementary school, as well as a land plot for a cemetery. The church was used by the Lutheran community until 1897, when the construction of a new temple (Church of Our Saviour) was undertaken. The construction of the new building was necessitated by a significant increase in the population of the parish, whom the Church of the Holy Trinity (with a capacity of about 400 people) was no longer able to accommodate. Since 1967, the temple was held under lease by a parish of the Polish Catholic Church. At present, it is again used by the Evangelical-Augsburg community.

Description

The church is situated in the northern frontage of Kościuszko Square. It is adjacent to and aligned with the former parish school and the pastor’s house. The buildings are separated by narrow strips of land, currently occupied by entrances to the premises (two gates).

The church was built on a floor plan resembling a rectangle. From the north, it is terminated by a narrower apse. The body of the church is two-storey, with a lower apse. The entrance is placed in the southern elevation. It is preceded by a small vestibule.

The walls are made of brick, plastered on both sides. The roof truss has a purlin-collar beam structure. The roof is covered with sheet metal.

The southern elevation serves as the façade. It is symmetrical, with a shallow recess on the axis. In the recess, there is a rectangular door opening containing the main entrance to the temple. The entrance is flanked by pairs of pilasters which support a triangular tympanum. Above it, there is a rectangular window opening. The recess is crowned with a semicircular window opening enclosed by a surround inscribed with the date 1824. The elevations are crowned with a top in the form of an attic featuring a cornice, surmounted by a turret with a sphere and a cross. The side elevations - the eastern and western ones - are designed in a similar way. On each storey, there are four semicircular window openings, which deliver natural light to the interior spaces. The corners of these elevations are accentuated by pairs of pilasters. The northern elevation is dominated by the apse. On the upper storey, there is a round window opening flanked by two semicircular windows. Windows of the same shape were inserted in the apse and (smaller) on its sides. The pilasters and cornices here are used as a decorative element too.

The nave is divided by rows of wooden columns supporting the choir gallery and the triforiums surrounding it from the south, east and west. The entrance to the choir gallery is situated in the southern corner sections.

The interior has lost most of its original late Neoclassical décor. Apart from the choir galleries and the altar wall with two rows of columns, only the commemorative plaques on the walls and the organ have survived.

The building can be viewed from outside all year round. It can be toured inside upon prior arrangement with the parish authorities (No. 370 Św. Antoniego Street).

Compiled by Anna Michalska, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Łódź. 27 March 2020

Bibliography

• 220 lat Tomaszowa Mazowieckiego, materiały z sesji naukowej, Tomaszów 2008
• Ród Ostrowskich w dziejach Tomaszowa i Rzeczypospolitej, materiały z sesji naukowej, Tomaszów 1991
• Tomaszów Mazowiecki, dzieje miasta, Warszawa 1980
• Proksa M., Zub M., Ewangelickie kościoły w Tomaszowie Mazowieckim, Próba analizy przestrzenno- użytkowej i architektonicznej, in: Czasopismo Inżynierii Lądowej, Środowiska i Architektury, Vol. XXXIV, 2017, July - September.