Church of Our Lady of Częstochowa in Zielona Góra

Outside, a black-and-white grid of half-timbering; inside, three tiers of wooden galleries and a pulpit resting on a column shaped like a palm trunk. The Church of Our Lady of Częstochowa is the former Lutheran church "Garden of Christ" (Zum Garten Christi), built in 1746–1748 and one of the oldest churches in Zielona Góra. In 1966 Archbishop Karol Wojtyła, the future Pope John Paul II, preached here to more than 15,000 people.

History: a church built from the town walls

After the Silesian War, when Zielona Góra (then Grünberg) came under Prussian rule, the new authorities restored religious freedom to Protestants and allowed them to build a church. The building committee was led by Mayor Christoph Friedrich Benjamin Kaufmann and Friedrich Martin Frisch, the congregation's first pastor. The foundation stone was laid in September 1745, and the walls were built with bricks and stones from the town's demolished fortifications. The church was consecrated on 15 December 1748. A tower was planned from the outset but was only added in stages, completed in 1828; in 1929 it received a clock made in Berlin. After 1945 Catholics took over the church, consecrated it to Our Lady of Częstochowa on 1 December 1946, and in 1987 it became the seat of its own parish.

What to see

• The half-timbered walls – only the three-storey front with the tower is built of brick.
• Three tiers of galleries running around the interior under a wooden beamed ceiling.
• The mid-18th-century Régence-style pulpit, supported on a column shaped like a palm trunk – a gift from a miller in nearby Krępa.
• The high altar from the mid-18th century, with an image of Our Lady of Częstochowa painted in 1995.
• A Rococo stone font from 1755 and a Baroque organ case from 1752.
• Baroque and Rococo epitaphs to former townspeople.

Interesting facts

Before each morning Mass the image of Our Lady is unveiled in a ceremony modelled on the one at Jasna Góra, Poland's national shrine, and covered again after the evening Mass and the Jasna Góra Appeal prayer. On 5 November 1966 the church hosted the joint celebrations of two Zielona Góra parishes marking the millennium of Poland's baptism, attended by Archbishop Karol Wojtyła; the next morning the future pope celebrated Sunday Mass here.

Tripto tip

The church is at ul. Kasprowicza 1, in the town centre, close to the main pedestrian street and St Hedwig's Co-Cathedral. It is a working parish; according to its website, weekday Masses are at 7:00 (during the school year), 10:00 and 18:00, and on Sundays at 7:30, 9:30, 11:00, 12:30 and 17:00. The best time to see the interior is just before or after a service, when the church is open. 20–30 minutes is enough to take in the galleries, pulpit and altar. For the best photo of the façade and tower, stand on Kasprowicza Street.