Wooden Church of St Giles in Zrębice

The parish of Zrębice appears in the Peter's Pence registers as early as 1334, under the name "Sdrzambicze" – a place cleared of scrub and forest. The wooden Church of St Giles that stands here today was built in 1789, and beside it survives an even older bell tower with bells from 1632. The village lies in the Kraków-Częstochowa Jura, in the municipality of Olsztyn about 18 km south-east of Częstochowa, and for centuries it was tied to Olsztyn Castle.

History

Legend has it that Zrębice was founded when the stronghold at Olsztyn was established under King Casimir the Great. In the 15th century the chronicler Jan Długosz described the parish in his register of the Kraków bishopric's endowments, and in 1581 the village was administered by Olsztyn Castle. By 1778 the old wooden church was close to collapse, and in 1782 a visiting church official ordered it to be thoroughly repaired or replaced. The present church was built in 1789 through the efforts and at the expense of the parish priest Wojciech Buliński, probably reusing parts of its predecessor.

Architecture

The church is a single-nave log building, clad in vertical boards and roofed with wooden shingles. The elongated chancel ends in three sides, and a hexagonal ridge turret with a lantern rises above the nave. Next to it stands a timber-framed bell tower from the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, and the group of six lime trees by the church is a protected natural monument. All the walls were conserved in 2014–2015.

The interior and the stolen Bethlehem Madonna

The key painting inside is the image of St Giles, made in 1652 on the initiative of parish priest Bartłomiej Magdaliński for a wayside chapel of St Giles in the fields. It was moved to the church in 1789, when the chapel was destroyed. Look out for the 18th-century stone font, figures of the hermit saints Anthony and Paul, and a copper holy-water stoup of 1717 in the porch. The church's most precious treasure is no longer here: a 15th-century painting of the Virgin known as the Betlejemka ("Bethlehem Madonna") was stolen in 1998, together with a 17th-century figure of the Risen Christ.

Did you know?

• St Giles, the parish patron, is invoked for fertility and is regarded as a patron of nursing mothers, shepherds and hunters.
• Zrębice also has a small wooden chapel from the early 19th century, built at the expense of the local forester on the site of the original church.

Tripto tip

This is a working parish church, so the easiest way to see the interior is at Mass; the church, bell tower and lime trees can be seen from outside at any time. Allow 20–30 minutes. The church is on the Silesian Voivodeship's Wooden Architecture Route, and a visit combines easily with the castle ruins in Olsztyn.