Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Parish Church), Żary

The Żary parish church, the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is the oldest and most important church in Żary – a brick Gothic hall with a Romanesque core, a stepped west gable and the Baroque chapel of the town's lords, the Promnitz family. It stands at pl. Kard. Stefana Wyszyńskiego 4 in the historic centre. Its story reads like a screenplay: fires, the Reformation, a bomb in 1944, a church split in two by a wall, and a return to life only in 1980.

History: from Romanesque church to Gothic hall

The first mention of a church in Żary dates from 1207. Around 1230–1240 a brick, two-aisled Romanesque church was built here – fragments of it survive on the north side of the chancel. In the late 13th century the building began to grow: the new Gothic chancel was consecrated in July 1308, and the nave was rebuilt at the end of the 14th century. The date 1401 above the main portal is taken to mark the completion of the nave, and the vaulting was finished in 1430. In 1528 the last Catholic parish priest left Żary, and for more than four centuries the church was Lutheran.

In 1586 Seifrid Promnitz endowed the church with a remarkable astronomical clock made by Michael Hirschwald – it showed days, months, moon phases and constellations, and moving figures came to life to the sound of a nightingale's song and a cock's crow. The clock was lost in a fire in 1684. Earlier, in 1670–1672, the Promnitz burial chapel was added to the east wall of the chancel; until 1698 it was decorated with stucco and paintings by Johann Joachim Vogel of Chemnitz.

War, a wall and reconstruction

On 11 April 1944, during an American air raid on Żary, a bomb pierced the vault of the south aisle and the blast tore off the entire roof. After the war the ruined church changed hands repeatedly: in 1948 it was handed to the Lutheran congregation, and in 1963 the chancel was given to the Polish Catholic community – the church was then divided by a brick wall built into the chancel arch. The whole building returned to the Roman Catholic Church only in August 1975, after almost 450 years. The hardest task was stabilising the east wall, badly cracked by the explosion. On 15 June 1980 the rebuilt church was blessed by Bishop Wilhelm Pluta.

What to see

• The west gable – stepped, with pinnacles and dense blind arcading, plus a richly moulded stone portal dated 1401.
• The hall interior – slender octagonal piers, pointed arcades and an unusually low chancel arch linking the nave with the chancel.
• The Promnitz Chapel – an arch with spiral columns, the family coat of arms and putti, and inside paintings in roundels showing biblical scenes.
• Romanesque fragments on the north side of the chancel and over a dozen 16th–17th-century epitaph slabs set into the outer walls.
• The organ of 1981–1983 – a concert instrument by the Stanisław Bożko workshop of Wrocław, housed in a 19th-century case brought from Świerzawa.

Did you know?

The church's pre-war organ, built in 1775 by Johann Gottfried Hildebrandt, was taken in 1948 – without its decorative case – to the cathedral in Płock. The altar and pulpit were also removed to unknown locations. Among the medieval furnishings that did survive is a carved stone tomb of a cleric from the second half of the 14th century in the west porch.

Tripto tips

This is a working parish church, and visits are guided only. The suggested donation is PLN 20 for adults and PLN 10 for children and teenagers; climbing the bell tower costs PLN 20 (teenagers from 13 with an adult PLN 10). Groups of more than 20 pay PLN 15 per person plus PLN 100 for a Polish-speaking guide. Tour dates are published by the parish – arrange yours in advance at zwiedzanie@zarynspj.pl or on +48 787 492 820 (English, German and Italian spoken). Allow about an hour for a guided visit.