Churches & monasteries

Wooden Church of St. Valentine in Woźniki

Key information

The Cemetery Church of St. Valentine in Woźniki stands on Tarnogórska Street, south of the town centre. It is a wooden log-built church surrounded by shingled arcades. The cemetery contains Józef Lompa’s grave.

History and architecture

The first references to a church dedicated to St. Valentine, St. Bartholomew and St. Stanislaus date from 1490 or 1497. Without dendrochronological research, the present building’s date remains disputed: literature gives 1696, while Bernard Szczech considers 1631 probable. A 1720 record mentions a wooden chapel and gives 1721, regarded as a scribal error. A porch and narthex were added in 1702, and a pulpit in 1714. The church survived the 1798 fire. A 1901 renovation brought polychromy by Otto Kowalewski; 2004 conservation revealed older Baroque-style painting.

Interior and planning your visit

The church has a single nave without a separate presbytery, a three-sided eastern termination, a sacristy and a western porch. An octagonal turret has a lantern and bulbous cupola, while open shingled arcades surround the building. Inside, look for the figural polychromy, a Neo-Gothic high altar and an 18th-century papier-mâché pulpit. It is now a cemetery chapel of St. Catherine’s Parish. No fixed sightseeing hours have been confirmed; the parish says that from July to the end of September the Sunday 17:00 Mass is held here. Confirm the schedule and interior access: Rynek 5, 42-289 Woźniki, +48 34 357 30 02, sk_wozniki@kuria.gliwice.pl. Address: Tarnogórska Street, Woźniki, Poland.