Wooden Church in Bąków

In a small village seven kilometres from Kluczbork stands a wooden church whose altarpiece is older than the building itself. A Gothic triptych from 1370, almost three metres high, most likely came here from Opole and is regarded as the oldest altarpiece of its kind in Silesia. The Church of the Assumption in Bąków is one of the highlights of the wooden-church trail around Kluczbork.

History

The church was built at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries in late Gothic style. Around 1550 it passed to the Protestants, who remodelled it; it stayed in their hands until 1945, when it became Catholic again. It was listed as a monument in 1953 and is today the only church in Bąków.

What to see

• The Marian triptych on the high altar – 2.97 m tall, showing the Coronation of the Virgin and belonging to the group of so-called Madonnas on a Lion. It probably arrived around 1810, after the Franciscan friary in Opole was dissolved, and was fully restored in 1913. Below it is a Last Supper painted on wood with the arms of the von Seidlitz and von Stertz families.
• 16th-century wall paintings of the Annunciation, the Ascension and Pentecost.
• The epitaph of Elisabeth von Frankenberg from 1676, carved in wood, with a votive painting and an inscription in Polish.
• An 18th-century pulpit and an organ built in 1906 by Schlag & Söhne of Świdnica, listed together with its case.
• The structure – log walls on a brick base, clad in boards, and a timber-framed tower.

Did you know?

In 1614 the church received a bell cast by Jakob Goetz in Wrocław. During the Second World War it was requisitioned and taken to the bell depot in Hamburg; today it hangs in a Protestant church in Fulda.

Tripto tip

The church is a parish church, so the best chance to see the interior is just before or after Mass. Take a close look at the triptych: the Coronation in the centre and the carved scenes on the wings are more than 650 years old. It is about a 10-minute drive from Kluczbork. Half an hour on site is enough, and you can combine the visit with the small wooden church in Maciejów and the chapel in Ligota Górna on the same trail.