History

According to tradition, the construction of the first church in Wrocimowice took place at the turn of the 13th century. The first references to the parish and church come from 1326. The other church was allegedly built by Marcin Wrocimowski, the local lord, as a votive offering for the victory in the Battle of Grunwald. The present church was built by the owners of the village, the Order of the Holly Sepulchre, in the years 1748-1754 to replace an older temple. The main contractor was Maciej Cepigowski. The church was consecrated in 1887 by Bishop Tomasz Kuliński. In the years 1977–1994, it completely renovated and restored.

Description

The Parish Church of St Andrew is located in the west part of the village of Wrocimowice on a hill. The hill overlooks the site of the Battle of Racławice. The temple is a late Baroque, brick and plastered church. It is an oriented, single-nave, four-span design with the chancel section outside the plan. The chancel is adjoined by the sacristy (from the south) and a porch (the former treasury, from the north), which makes the complex resemble the shape of a cross. The second span from the east has rectangular chapels on both sides, forming a kind of transept. The front façade of the church had two levels a similar gable adorned with volutes. The divisions were achieved by using even and double pilasters as well as entablature and cornices split over them. The panels between the pilasters contain recesses; the portal panels are framed by columns. The side walls have frame divisions. The church is covered by a gable copper-sheet roof with an octagonal turret in the middle, topped with a tin cupola with a lantern. The vaulted interior (a barrel vault with lunettes on transverse ribs) is divided by even or double pilasters, entablature and blind arcades. The Rococo, uniformly designed equipment comes from the time of the construction of the church, for example, the main altar (with the 19th-century images, including of St Andrew the Apostle by Wincenty Wodzinowski) and side altars, a pulpit, a choir gallery, two confessionals. A pole-frame 18th-century tower stands next to the church. It was built on a square plan with sloping walls, an overhanging upped extension and a tented roof topped with an octagonal turret with a dome.

The church can be viewed from the outside. Church tours only before and after services.

Author of the note Tomasz Woźniak, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Kraków 01/08/2014

Bibliography

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