Wooden Church of SS Philip and James in Sękowa

In the winter of 1914/1915, during fierce fighting on the front near Gorlice, soldiers pulled timber off the church at Sękowa to build trenches and to burn as firewood. That the church survived at all is thanks to rebuilding that began as early as 1918. Today the wooden church of St Philip and St James, built around 1520, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its wide open soboty – roofed arcades on posts – make it one of the most recognisable silhouettes in the Low Beskids.

History

The church was built at the beginning of the 16th century, around 1520 and no later than 1522 – the same year as its stone font. It is a single-nave log building on a rubble-stone foundation. The walls of hand-hewn larch logs are completely covered with wooden shingles, and a single steep roof covers both the narrower chancel and the wider nave. In the 17th century a post-and-frame tower with a domed cap was added, along with the spreading soboty that give the church its distinctive outline. The sacristy and the music gallery were rebuilt in 1819.

Well-known Polish artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries painted the church, among them Stanisław Wyspiański, Józef Mehoffer, Teodor Axentowicz and Włodzimierz Tetmajer. In 1974 the Polish Post issued a stamp showing it, as part of a series on Polish folk architecture. Conservation work was recognised with a Europa Nostra medal in 1994, and in 2003 the church was added to the UNESCO list together with other wooden churches of southern Lesser Poland.

What to see

• The soboty – open arcades on posts running around the church; up close you can see how shingles cover every surface.
• The west portal, topped with a trefoil ogee arch – one of three late-Gothic doorways.
• The goblet-shaped stone font dated 1522.
• The rood beam with a 16th-century wooden crucifix.
• The late-Renaissance high altar from the 17th century, painted in colour.
• Folk Baroque Stations of the Cross from the 17th century and two processional banners from the 18th century.

The interior is plain precisely because of the damage done in the First World War – the side altars are modern reconstructions based on Renaissance models. That makes the surviving pieces – the font, the crucifix and the portals – all the more worth a close look.

Tripto tip

This is a filial church, not a museum, so the interior does not keep fixed opening hours. Whether you can go inside depends on the church's custodians and the Lesser Poland Wooden Architecture Route – check before you travel. Even if the door is shut, walk all the way round under the soboty: the outside is where you see the most. Allow 30–45 minutes. Sękowa combines easily with nearby Siary and the town of Gorlice.