Church of St Michael the Archangel in Polany

On the road from Grybów to Krynica-Zdrój, in the valley of the Mostysza stream, stands a church darkened by its shingles and crowned with three silvery onion domes. This is the former Greek Catholic church of St Michael the Archangel in Polany, built in 1820 – a textbook example of western Lemko wooden architecture. For more than 70 years it has served Latin-rite Catholics, yet the interior with its iconostasis still speaks of the village's Lemko roots.

History: a Lemko village of the Kraków bishops

Polany was founded on 27 November 1574 under Wallachian law, by a charter of the Bishop of Kraków, Franciszek Krasiński, as part of the so-called Muszyna estate. It was settled by Lemkos, an Eastern Slavic highland people of the Carpathians. The present church replaced an earlier one mentioned in 1667. After the Lemko population was deported (to the USSR in 1945 and in Operation Vistula in 1947), the building was taken over by the Roman Catholic parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in nearby Berest, and today it is that parish's filial church under its old dedication. It was listed as a historic monument in 1964; it was restored in 1983–1985, among other times, and the iconostasis in 2000.

What to see

The building has three parts: a square chancel, a wider nave and a tower with sloping walls built as a post-and-frame structure. All three are topped with domed cupolas and blind lanterns – and each cross on top has a different shape. The walls are covered with wooden shingles, and at the foot of the tower there is a porch sheltered by a deep eave resting on projecting beams.

• Wall paintings from 1862 – Bible scenes on the ceilings, Old Testament motifs on the choir parapet and a painted canopy above the iconostasis.
• 19th-century iconostasis – complete and restored in 2000.
• High altar – late Baroque, with an 18th-century painting of the Pietà.
• Side altars – the northern one with an icon of the Protection of the Mother of God, the southern one assembled from parts of an older iconostasis.
• Baroque pulpit from 1700 and a painted deacons' bench.

Did you know?

The church is enclosed by a high fieldstone wall with a small shrine under a shingled roof – walk all the way round, because the domes line up differently from every side. Remains of Lemko farm buildings survive in the village, and farmstead no. 46 is also a listed monument. Polany is ringed by the peaks of Hłocza (774 m) and Kiczera Wielka (694 m), which make a fine backdrop for photos.

Tripto tip

The church is an active filial church with no fixed opening hours, so the best chance to see the interior is during a service or by contacting the parish in Berest in advance. You can look at the exterior and the wall at any time; 20–30 minutes is enough for a stop. Polany lies on the Wooden Architecture Route of Małopolska, so it combines easily with other former Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches around Krynica, for example in nearby Berest. When parking, do not block driveways along the narrow regional road 981.