History

The parish in Wągłczew was established as early as the 15th century. The first temple was wooden. Funds for the construction of a new, brick church with a residential building were donated in 1626 by brothers Maciej Łubieński (archbishop of Gniezno) and Stanisław Łubieński (royal secretary, abbot of Tyniec). The Łubieński brothers held a number of important functions, both religious and secular ones, in connection with their service at the royal court.

The construction of the temple is attributed to Jerzy Hoffman - a bricklayer from Kalisz. However, no written evidence has survived to confirm it. The church was presumably built by Jerzy Hoffman, because the solutions implemented in the temple in Wągłczew are similar to those used in other temples built by him. In addition, the founders probably met Hoffman during their studies in Kalisz. The Łubieński family were related to the Ruszkowski family, who hired that bricklayer to construct buildings in Złoczew.

As soon as the construction was completed, the temple was consecrated in 1629. Four years later, it was placed under the care of the Congregation of Regular Canons of the Holy Sepulchre (the so-called canons from Miechów, Order of the Holy Sepulchre), whose provosty building in Miechów belonged to Maciej Łubieński. The canons stayed in Wągłczew until the dissolution of the order in 1865. After the liquidation of the congregation, the temple buildings passed into the hands of the parish clergy, who converted the monastery into a clergy house. The church did not undergo any major alterations, with the exception of renovations and minor changes to its interiors. In the 1950s, the entrance to the burial crypts (where members of the Łubieński family are buried) was bricked up. 

The monastery was altered more extensively. Apart from repairs and alteration works in some of the interiors, a few small annexes were added to the main body of the monastery. Around 1985, the western one-storey avant-corps was demolished and the cartouche with the coat of arms of the founders was removed from the eastern elevation. Some ornamental elements decorating the gable walls were removed too. 

Description

The church complex occupies a land plot similar in shape to a trapezoid, in the western part of the village. The church is oriented. To the west of the church, there is the present day clergy house, formerly a monastery building. The whole is surrounded by a brick fence with epitaph plaques transferred from the church. In the area of the former church cemetery, no traces of burials have survived and it is now covered by a lawn.

The church was built on a floor plan of a rectangle terminated polygonally from the east. From the west, a four-storey square tower with a cylindrical two-storey staircase was added to the main body. From the north, the chancel section is adjoined by a single-storey sacristy on a rectangular floor plan. On the roof, there is a ridge turret decorated with an openwork lantern and topped with an onion-shaped cupola. The tower is topped in a similar way.

The monastery building follows the floor plan of a quadrangle resembling a rectangle. The building is two storey in height and has a high attic. Initially, it had an avant-corps on its west side.

The church was built from solid bricks laid with lime mortar. The walls are plastered on both sides and supported with buttresses from outside. The interiors are covered with barrel vaults. The roof truss is wooden with a rafter-collar beam structure. The temple is topped with a gable roof, with a steeple in its eastern part. The steeple and the tower are surmounted by Baroque cupolas. The roofs have sheet metal cladding.

The former monastery is made of brick too, plastered on both sides. Its wooden roof truss has a rafter and collar beam structure. The high gable roof is clad with bituminous felt layers.

The elevations of the church are set on a low plinth. 

The main entrance is situated in the tower, in the western elevation.

The entrance opening is decorated with a semicircular top. Above, there is a marble plaque honouring the memory of the founders. The walls of the nave, set back in relation to the structure of the tower, are embellished with blendes in their top part. The façade is windowless.

The window openings in the other elevations were inserted on two levels: circular window openings are placed higher and below there are semicircular ones. In the southern elevation, there are four rows of window openings, separated by buttresses reaching the area slightly above the round window openings. The door opening, designed similarly as in the façade, was placed on the second axis from the west. From the north, the body of the church is adjoined by a quadrangular sacristy. It is smoothly plastered and its walls are decorated with pilasters. The semi-hexagonally terminated chancel (eastern elevation) has only a round window in its central part. Its wall is additionally decorated with a contemporary sgraffito with a representation of the face of Christ.

To add architectural interest, the corners of the monastery are decorated with quoins and the walls are topped with a profiled cornice. The eastern elevation serves as the façade. The window openings on the ground floor have flat surrounds. The northern and southern elevations stand out with their three-storey, richly decorated gables. Initially, a cartouche with the coat of arms of the Łubieński family was attached to the eastern elevation.

The nave and the chancel are of the same width. The nave consists of three bays, the chancel has one bay. The walls are divided by pilasters, above which there are prominent serrated cornices. Between the pilasters, there are shallow recesses in which side altars and window openings are placed. The wall separating the chancel from the nave has a chancel opening topped with a semi-circular arch. The vaults are adorned with stucco decorations.

In the former monastery, the vestibule with a two-flight staircase is positioned on the axis. In some of the interiors, groin and barrel-groin vaults and stucco decorations have been preserved.

Most of the fixtures and fittings in the church, including the altars, the pulpit, the choir gallery and the baptismal font, come from the 18th century The carved Crucifixion group in the main altar is slightly older, as it comes from the 17th century.

Other noteworthy items of the fixtures and fittings include the outer door covered with copper sheet. In the façade, there is a door decorated with representations of the Crucifixion (left wing) and of St. Clement (right wing). In the southern elevation, there is single-wing door decorated with a pair of angels holding the coat of arms of the Pomian family.

The church and the monastery can be viewed from outside all year round. The church can be visited inside before and after services or upon prior arrangement by telephone with the parish priest.

Prepared by Anna Michalska, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Łódź. 26 March 2018

Bibliography

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• Ruszkowski A., Sieradz i okolice, Sieradz 2000
• Między Północą a Południem, sieradzkie i wieluńskie w późnym średniowieczu i czasach nowożytnych, Sieradz 1993
• Gryglewski P., Vetusta Monumenta, szlacheckie mauzoleum od połowy XV do XVII w., Łódź 2002
• Kazimierza Stronczyńskiego opisy i widoki zabytków w Królestwie Polskim, Warszawa 2011, vol. III Gubernia Warszawska
• Miłobędzki A., Architektura polska w XVII w., Warszawa 1980