Church of St Lawrence in Zacharzowice

The wooden Church of St Lawrence in Zacharzowice is only about 15 m long and 6 m wide, and almost all of its structure dates from the 16th century. Tree-ring dating carried out in 2008 showed that the roof truss over the nave was set up and building work finished at the end of 1570. Curiously, it was built by Lutherans – and yet it looks exactly like a typical Catholic village church of its time.

History: Lutherans, Catholics and a tower from around 1675

The village was first mentioned in 1305, and the parish and church in 1447. The present church replaced an older one in the 1560s, when the owners of Zacharzowice, the Myszkowski family, handed the church over to the Protestants. In 1629 it returned to the Catholics and was soon merged with the parish in Sieroty; it has been a branch church ever since. Around 1675 the tower was added or raised. In the following centuries the church was never rebuilt, only repaired many times, mostly its roofs and shingles; the last major renovation of the tower and church took place in 2011–2012.

Architecture: hanging arcades

The church faces east and is built in log construction – the walls are horizontal rings of logs joined at the corners. The nave and chancel are made of fir and spruce on an oak sill, and the two lower storeys of the post-framed tower are oak. The square nave adjoins a narrower chancel with a three-sided end and a sacristy to the north, with the tower and its pyramid roof to the west. Around the nave and chancel run shingled soboty – the low covered skirts typical of Polish wooden churches – which in Zacharzowice are not supported on posts but hung from the walls. Unusually, the only way in is from the west, through the porch in the tower.

What to see inside

• The pulpit of 1687, with a 17th-century painting of the Immaculate Conception on its back panel.
• The Neo-Baroque high altar of 1897 with a painting of St Lawrence.
• The left side altar from before 1720, brought from the monastery in Jemielnica, with paintings of Saints Simon and Jude Thaddeus and St Christopher.
• The right side altar of 1720, with a copy of a late Gothic triptych of St Anne with the Virgin and Child – the original was stolen in 1997.
• The doorway from the chancel to the sacristy, from the late 16th century.
• The ceiling paintings from around 1960 – the original murals of about 1580 were painted over as early as the 18th century.

Tripto tip

The church stands in an active cemetery on ul. Wiejska in Zacharzowice (Wielowieś municipality), north of Pyskowice. By the entrance, look for the "Boża Męka" wayside cross of 1899. As a branch church of the parish in Sieroty it has no regular opening hours – the interior is easiest to see around Mass, while the exterior can be viewed from the cemetery at any time. Allow 20–30 minutes. The church is on the Silesian Wooden Architecture Route, so it combines easily with the wooden All Saints' Church in Sieroty and the castle in Toszek. Please be respectful – the church is surrounded by graves.