Church of Our Lady of Consolation in Żyrardów

The Church of Our Lady of Consolation in Żyrardów (roughly "zhih-RAR-doof") is a red-brick Gothic Revival church built in 1900–1903, its twin spires rising more than 70 m (230 ft) above a former textile town west of Warsaw. Paid for by the owners of the local linen mills and built from over three million bricks, it is the town's defining landmark and the natural starting point for exploring one of Europe's best-preserved 19th-century factory towns.

Where it is

Żyrardów lies in Masovia, central Poland, about 50 km (30 miles) west of Warsaw, with regular Koleje Mazowieckie commuter trains from the capital. That makes it an easy half-day trip from Warsaw or a stop on the way to Łódź. The church stands on Narutowicza Street in the town center, walkable from the station.

A church for a mill town

The town grew around a flax-spinning mill founded in 1829 and is named after Philippe de Girard, the French inventor of mechanical flax spinning. By the 1890s the workers' town needed a large church. The parish was established in 1898 and construction began in 1900 to designs by Józef Pius Dziekoński, Warsaw's leading church architect of the period. The main founder was mill co-owner Karl Dittrich Jr.; Count Feliks Sobański donated the plot, and the mill's board supplied over 3 million bricks from its Radziejowice brickworks. The silhouette deliberately echoes the great twin-towered Gothic cathedrals.

What to see inside

• Art Nouveau stained glass with floral motifs. Often credited to Józef Mehoffer, the windows were in fact designed by his student Jan Kanty Gumowski; the apse windows were added in 1935 by Feliks Konecki.
• The Rieger organ from 1911, with 45 stops and three manuals.
• The high altar (1929–1931) by Warsaw workshop owner Wincenty Bogaczyk, holding relics of the martyr saints Victoria and Roman since 1903.
• The nave, 22 m (72 ft) high, which gives the interior an almost cathedral-like scale.

Architecture up close

Dziekoński drew openly on the great twin-towered cathedrals; the building is often compared with Cologne Cathedral and Vienna's Votive Church. There are actually three towers: the two facade spires and a small bell turret over the crossing, and the building encloses nearly 12,900 cubic meters. Walk all the way around it: the stepped gables, pinnacles and pointed decorative gables in red brick are best seen from the side, near the rectory of around 1904. The bells carry names: Stefan, Jesus, Mary, Joseph and John Paul II. The church has been on Poland's heritage register since 1975.

Visiting tips

This is a working parish church, so the interior is most reliably open just before and after Mass; check the service times posted on the notice board or call the parish office. Entry is free (as of October 2026), with no admission tickets. Allow 30 to 45 minutes. Information on site is in Polish, and services are held in Polish. Dress modestly and avoid flash photography during services.

Is it worth visiting?

Yes, especially combined with the surrounding factory settlement, listed as a Historic Monument of Poland in 2012: rows of red-brick workers' houses, the old spinning mill and the mill owners' villas survive largely intact. Don't miss the Museum of the Linen Industry, named after Philippe de Girard, housed in a former factory building with dozens of historic textile machines. Prices in Poland are in złoty (PLN).