It looks admirably in the modest interior and is almost a textbook monument in its own category.

History

The village was first referenced in mediaeval times. It belonged to several equestrian families. It never obtained its independent parish and historically remained closely related to the parish in Koniusza. This has not changed until today. The chapel served as an auxiliary church. The contemporary one, however, was built in 1892, although its first construction goes back to earlier times. In 1928 the external formwork was replaced. In 1989, thanks to the efforts of the local residents, a renovation was carried out. A new foundation and external drainage were made, a new fence was installed, the interior was repainted, and the entrance and windows were secured with bars. Conservation of the polyptych of St Barbara was completed in 1992.

Description

The small, wooden building showcases an almost complete programme of a traditional, log countryside temple with a separate chancel closed on three sides, an almost square nave, and a porch at the front. The building is covered with a corbel ceiling with a flattened vault. Carpentry details are few but the opening separating the nave from the priest’s section, there is a rood beam with sculptures of the Crucifixion scene: a folk cross and the figures of the Blessed Virgin Many and St John the Evangelist in an archaic-like form. Outside, the walls are boarded with planks alternated tightly with strips. The roofs are covered with shingles, and a small ave bell turret crowns the nave. The entrance door is stripped and studded with a diamond-shaped formwork. The entire building is a perfect example of an age-old, traditional and modest Polish wooden church. Inside, a small polyptych from 1590, an example of late panel painting and sculptures in the Gothic style. The central part of the open altar is a chest with a statue of St Barbara; shall has a “Gothic” folds of the robe and her characteristic attributes: the tower and the Eucharistic chalice. The open wings reveal six panels with the paintings of scenes from the legend of the holy virgin and martyr. The wings of the closed altar feature twelve scenes of the Passion. The whole programme is crowed with a theme of the Holy Family: there is St Anne with the Virgin Mary and Child on a throne with the busts of Saints Joachim and Joseph; there is also a Holy Trinity motif (Dove and God the Father) in a flattened triangular abutment. The images of the Passion cycle and the legends of St Barbara have no discernible attributes of any specific author. Inside the altar, there is a folk painting of the Crucifixion, an example of a 19th-century work of the so-called “obraźnik” (door-to-door image makers and sellers).

The site is accessible to visitors during services or by prior appointment with the parish office.

Author of the note Roman Marcinek, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Kraków 20/03/2015

Bibliography

• R. Brykowski, M. Kornecki, Drewniane kościoły w Małopolsce Południowej, Ossolineum 1984, p. 86.
• KZSwP, I, Województwo Krakowskie, wyd. 2, Warszawa 1953.
• M. Kornecki, Biuletyn „Kościoły drewniane” no. 8.