Wooden Church in Mętków

This dark larch-wood church once stood more than 60 kilometres away, in Niegowić near Bochnia. It was here, in 1948–1949, that a newly ordained curate, Father Karol Wojtyła – the future Pope John Paul II – served his first post. In 1973 the church was dismantled, moved to Mętków in the municipality of Babice and reassembled – and it was blessed by the same priest, by then a cardinal and Archbishop of Kraków.

History: a church that changed address

The parish in Niegowić is very old – in 1325 it was already the seat of a deanery. The previous wooden church burned on Corpus Christi day in 1761, set alight by cannon salutes. The one that now stands in Mętków was founded in 1788 by the owner of the local estate, Teresa Grzębska, and thoroughly repaired in 1893. Father Wojtyła arrived in Niegowić in July 1948 and worked there until August 1949; years later he recalled the journey to his first parish in his book “Gift and Mystery”. While he was there, construction of a new brick church began (completed in 1959), and the old wooden one was no longer needed. Instead of being lost, it was moved to Mętków.

Highlanders from the Spisz region did the carpentry when it was rebuilt. Beside it a bell tower with St Joseph's Chapel was built, modelled on the historic bell tower in Niegowić. On 1 May 1974 the church was blessed by Cardinal Karol Wojtyła. Four years later, in 1978, the Kraków artist Zygmunt Wigłusz painted the interior.

What to see

• The log-built structure – the church is 34 metres long, 15 metres wide and 8 metres high, with a spacious two-storey sacristy and three porches.
• Three Baroque altars of the Kraków school: the main one with a painting of Our Lady of Częstochowa, the right one of the Sacred Heart with a figure of Our Lady of Sorrows, and the left one with a Renaissance painting of St Anne with the Virgin and Child, in tempera on wood.
• The rood beam with a crucifix between nave and chancel, inscribed "Zmiłuj się nad nami" ("Have mercy on us").
• The Baroque pulpit and font and the Stations of the Cross.
• The 1978 paintings covering the walls and ceiling.

Tripto tip

The church is a working parish church, so you can see inside before or after Mass. Walk round it too, to see the bell tower with St Joseph's Chapel. Allow 20–30 minutes. Mętków lies where the Chechło river meets the Vistula, a few kilometres from Babice and the open-air museum in Wygiełzów. If you are following places linked to John Paul II, Niegowić has the first monument in Poland showing him as a young curate, by the new church.