St Bartholomew the Apostle Church in Włodowice

Since the early 18th century a Baroque stone church on a hill (395 m above sea level) has towered over Włodowice on the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. Before this masonry church was built, a succession of wooden churches burned and rose again on the same spot, and in the 16th century an Arian (Polish Brethren) congregation even worshipped here for more than two decades. St Bartholomew the Apostle Church is now an active parish church with seven Baroque altars and a pulpit from 1708.

Three churches before this one

According to the parish chronicle, the first church, built of larch, stood here as early as the 13th century and burned down during the Tatar invasion of 1241; it was rebuilt in 1305. The parish appears in records in 1373, and its foundation is linked to the reign of Casimir the Great. From 1571 to 1594 the Boner family turned the church into an Arian meeting house, which was returned to the Catholics only at the end of the 16th century. Another wooden church was consecrated in 1629; damaged during the Swedish Deluge, it eventually fell into ruin.

Polish Baroque on a hilltop

In 1701 Bishop Kazimierz Łubieński ordered a new church, funded by the local parish priest, Prelate Marian Kępski. The foundation stone was laid on 17 April 1701, the Sunday after Easter. The stone church was roofed with tiles in 1703, and on 16 September 1708 it was consecrated by Michał Szembek, auxiliary bishop of Kraków. Four altars were consecrated in 1787; in 1796 the master mason Walenty Urbański raised the tower, and in 1898–1911 a sacristy and chapel were added and the tower was raised again. During the Second World War the Germans looted the bell; a new one was funded after the war.

What to see

• The building – a single-nave church with a narrower chancel with chamfered corners and a square west tower with a porch at its base.
• The interior, with paired pilasters whose capitals bear cherub heads, and a nave covered by a barrel vault with lunettes.
• The baptismal niche in the north wall, topped by a triangular gable with the Eye of Providence.
• The high altar from the early 18th century – two tiers, with statues of St Bartholomew, St John the Baptist and Saints Peter and Paul, and a painting of the Man of Sorrows with bound hands, said by tradition to have been brought from Rome.
• The pulpit of 1708, restored in 2022, and the wooden organ gallery painted with New Testament scenes.

Tripto tip

The church stands at ul. Krakowska 1 and is an active parish church, so the best time to look inside is before or after Mass. 30–45 minutes is enough for the church itself. Nearby, in the centre of Włodowice, are the ruins of the palace built in 1669–1681 by the castellan of Kraków, Stanisław Warszycki – King John III Sobieski stayed there in 1683 on his way to the Battle of Vienna. The ruins were re-entered in the heritage register in 2023; view them from outside.