Church of St Giles in Giebułtów

The high altar of this small church near Kraków holds a painting of Our Lady of Częstochowa dated 1623 – according to conservators, probably the oldest surviving copy of the famous Jasna Góra icon. The Church of St Giles in Giebułtów is the third church on this site: the present late-Renaissance building went up in 1600–1604 on the walls of an older one, and tradition links the parish's beginnings to Duke Władysław Herman.

History: a vow for the birth of an heir

According to the medieval chronicler Jan Długosz, Władysław Herman, grateful to St Giles for the birth of his son Bolesław, ordered his knights in 1086 to found churches dedicated to the saint – Giebułtów is among those listed. The first church is associated with the duke's wife, Judith, although the date is a tradition rather than an established fact. The church suffered in the early 14th century, when supporters of Bishop Jan Muskata plundered the village during his dispute with Władysław the Elbow-high. The parish appears in Peter's Pence records for 1325–1327.

The present church was built in 1600–1604 using the walls of its predecessor, which explains the irregular plan. Its founders are uncertain: researchers name Jakub Tomaszewski (Bończa coat of arms) and Barbara Pisarska (Szreniawa coat of arms), Kasper Giebułtowski (d. 1625) or Father Sebastian of Nagrodzieniec. On 8 September 1604 the church was consecrated by Bishop Bernard Maciejowski of Kraków. From 1727 the Visitation nuns of Kraków were its patrons.

What to see

• The building with its semicircular apse, buttresses and stepped gables – an example of the slow shift in church architecture from Gothic to Renaissance.
• The Mannerist portal with a foundation plaque recording the 1604 consecration.
• The Rococo high altar with the 1623 painting of Our Lady of Częstochowa.
• The tomb slab of Stanisław and Barbara Oraczowski with incised figures, from around 1477 or after 1490, brought from the older church (south wall of the nave).
• The oldest sculptures: a Virgin from the second half of the 15th century on the rood beam and a 16th-century Pensive Christ.
• A marble font from 1666 and a chapel with a rib vault.

Did you know?

In 1933, during repairs, 63 coins from the 17th century were found bricked up in the church wall. In 1863 the antiquarian Józef Łepkowski described a beam on the chancel arch bearing the inscription "1082 (?)", supposedly from the first church; the inscription was painted over before 1906. The bell tower built into the wall in front of the churchyard entrance dates from the 1920s, and the wall paintings were restored in 1987.

Tripto tip

This is a working parish church, so the interior is easiest to see around Mass. On Sundays Mass is at 8:00 and 11:00, and on weekdays in October at 18:00 (as of October 2026, according to the parish website). The big day of the year is the church festival on 1 September, the feast of St Giles. Half an hour is enough for the church and its wall; visit outside services and dress appropriately. Giebułtów lies in Kraków county, just north of the city.