Lutheran Church in Ozimek

Ozimek is known for the oldest cast-iron suspension bridge, but a few hundred metres away stands a second landmark tied to the Prussian ironworks and its people: a white Lutheran church designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Prussia's most famous architect. It is one of the few Schinkel buildings in the Opole region you can see without travelling to Berlin.

History: a church for the ironworkers

The Lutheran parish of Malapane – as Ozimek was then called – existed from 1768, but had no church of its own for half a century. Schinkel's design was built in 1819–1821 and consecrated on 8 April 1821. At first it had only a wooden bell tower with two bells. The foundation stone for a masonry tower above the porch was laid on 19 September 1859, and the tower was consecrated a year later.

The interior once had unique Gothic Revival fittings – altar, pulpit, gallery, window frames and bells – cast at the local ironworks. Most of them were destroyed by fire in 1988. Although most of the former congregation left after the war, the church still serves Lutherans; since 1962 it has been a branch of the Lutheran parish in Opole.

What to see

• Schinkel's design – a simple hall with an apse to the east, in the round-arched style. Its defining feature is the large semicircular windows framed in brick against the white render.
• The tower – slender, with a tall spire, added above the porch in 1859–1860; you can clearly see that it is later than the main body.
• Traces of cast iron – the gallery balustrade and the window surrounds survive from the original ironworks fittings.

Tripto tip

The church stands in a park at the end of an avenue – the best shot of the tower is straight down that axis, while the side wall with its arched windows is best seen from the cemetery side. The interior is usually open during services. Allow 15–20 minutes to see it from outside, and combine it with the suspension bridge over the Mała Panew and the Ironworks Museum, open at weekends.