St Mary's Church in Chojna

The tower of St Mary's in Chojna can be seen from far away across the flat fields of West Pomerania. It is one of the largest Gothic churches in Poland, attributed to the workshop of Hinrich Brunsberg, and after a fire in 1945 it stood as an open ruin for almost half a century.

History: two disasters and a long return

The first church was built here after the town received its charter in the 13th century. At the end of the 14th century work began on a brick hall church – the first part was consecrated in 1407, and the whole building in 1459. The result was a six-bay hall with an ambulatory choir, chapels set between buttresses drawn into the interior and a gallery above them. These features, together with the pilaster decoration of the façades, link Chojna with Brunsberg's workshop.

On 2 July 1843 a corner of the medieval tower collapsed, destroying St Anne's Chapel. A new neo-Gothic tower was built in 1855–1861 to a design by Friedrich August Stüler. On 16 February 1945 the church burned: the roof, vaults and nine pillars collapsed and the spire was destroyed. The ruin waited until the 1990s. In 1994–1997 the nave received a new roof on modern supports, then the tower was strengthened and its pointed top recreated. Replacing the roof covering took until 2020.

What to see

• The exterior – especially the façades decorated with glazed brick,
• Stüler's tower, now close to 100 metres high (figures differ between sources),
• the interior, where new, deliberately plain pillars stand beside medieval walls and galleries – you can see where the Gothic ends and the rebuilding begins,
• the vaults of the chapels and galleries that survived the fire.

What to look for

Inside, compare the vaults. The aisles, chapels and ambulatory galleries were covered with ordinary rib vaults, while the nave and the gallery of the Lady Chapel received richer star vaults – some of the latter survive today. On the south side, next to the two rectangular bays from the first building phase, stands a chapel with a gallery built before 1440; its origins are still not fully explained. To the west the church once rested against a massive 13th-century tower – the one that collapsed in 1843.

Interesting facts

• One scene of Lars von Trier's film "Europa" was shot in the ruined church.
• During work on the tower in 2007–2009 a viewing terrace was created at clock level.

Tripto tip

30–60 minutes is enough to walk around the church. Start with a full circuit of the building: only close up do you grasp the scale of the walls and the difference between the medieval body and the 19th-century tower. The interior and the tower terrace are not always open, so ask the parish before you travel. Chojna lies a short drive from the German border and combines easily with a trip to Cedynia.