Wooden Church of St Roch in Zamarski

First there was only the tower: for almost a century and a half the faithful prayed in an open space beneath a belfry, because there simply was no church. The wooden tower of St Roch's Church in Zamarski, rebuilt around 1585, is according to the Hażlach municipality the oldest wooden monument in the Cieszyn Silesia region. The church itself was only added in 1731, and the two parts still differ clearly in how they were built.

History: a tower without a church

Zamarski's first wooden church burned down in or shortly before 1585. Only the graveyard belfry was rebuilt, with a new uninscribed bell, and services were held in the open room beneath it – the tower served as a makeshift church. From the mid-16th century until 1654 it was in Protestant hands, and church inspectors in 1652 mistakenly described the belfry as a branch church of the Cieszyn parish.

The church proper was added in 1731, funded by Baron Friedrich Wilczek, lord of Kończyce Wielkie. Until 1773 the Jesuits ran a mission station here; afterwards the church became a branch of the parish in Cieszyn and later of Hażlach. It was originally dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus; the parish of St Roch was established in 1981. In 1916 the newer bell, cast in 1880, was requisitioned for the war effort – the older one survived.

What to see

• The tower, built on a post frame braced with trusses and struts, with slightly sloping walls. It is surrounded by broad soboty – lean-to roofs on posts, typical of the region's wooden churches, where worshippers once sheltered – and crowned by a spire that turns from square to an octagonal cone.
• The nave, of log construction on a stone base, facing east, with a shingled gable roof.
• Inside, beneath a flat ceiling and horizontal panelling: two Baroque side altars and a pulpit, bought after 1884 from the hospital church of St George in Cieszyn.
• A painting of St Charles Borromeo by the Cieszyn painter Świerkiewicz, donated in the mid-19th century by the merchant Karol Bernacik.
• Figures of St Barbara and St Catherine on the choir balustrade, moved from the former high altar.

Tripto tip

This is a working parish church, not a museum – there are no set visiting hours or tickets. You can see it from outside at any time; the easiest way inside is around Mass times, which the parish publishes. Please keep quiet and do not photograph the interior during services. Allow 20–30 minutes for the tower and church. The contrast between the post-built tower and the log-built nave is clearest from the churchyard. The church is at ul. Cieszyńska 1 and lies on the Via Ducalis ducal route and the Wooden Architecture Trail of the Silesian Voivodeship, so it is easy to combine with other wooden churches around Cieszyn.