St Hedwig's Church in Bolków

Next to the pulpit in St Hedwig's Church in Bolków, a 13th-century stone corbel juts out from the wall: three men's heads, each with a different expression. It is one of many details in a church that has stood at the top of the market square since the mid-13th century, a few minutes' walk from Bolków Castle. From outside it now looks Gothic Revival, but inside its early Gothic origins are still easy to sense.

History: from the Church of the Cross to St Hedwig

Professor Olgierd Czerner dated the building to 1248–1252. The first written mention comes from 1298, when Bishop Thomas II of Wrocław made Duchess Hedwig of Silesia, canonised in 1267, its patron; before that it was called the Church of the Cross. It was built of red and yellowish-green sandstone on the plan of a Greek cross, its arms formed by the nave, transept and chancel. A north aisle was added in the 14th century.

The tower was burned by the Hussites in 1428, and the Swedes destroyed what was left of it in 1646; its present form dates from 1816. In 1846 the parish priest, Faustmann, removed the Gothic gables and small windows, covered the church with a hipped roof and turned it into a three-aisled building. In 1875 it was given Gothic Revival features.

What to see

• The pulpit of 1619, funded by the Wrocław merchant Andreas Bodenstein, whose wife came from Bolków, and the three-headed corbel beside it.
• The vault bosses showing St Hedwig, her husband and four grandchildren, along with the arms of the Piast dukes of the Świdnica-Jawor-Ziębice line.
• The column capitals with rich foliage carving, and the rib vaults in the early Gothic part.
• A fragment of a 14th-century fresco above the sacristy door.
• Three Gothic statues – the Virgin and Child, St Catherine and St Barbara – which once crowned the north porch gable and were moved inside after conservation in 2006.
• 18th-century altars commissioned by the abbots of Krzeszów, Stations of the Cross from 1893 and an organ case from 1895.

Interesting facts

During the 1846 rebuilding, the epitaphs set into the floor were turned face down. They cover crypts with the coffins of the Zedlitz, Tschirnhaus and Saltza families and of wealthy townspeople. In 1927, around 80 skulls and other bones were found under the sacristy roof; an anthropologist from Leipzig who examined them suggested they might be a Hussite burial, but this was never confirmed. Until the end of the 17th century a graveyard surrounded the church, reaching all the way to the town walls.

Tripto tip

The church is at pl. Jana Pawła II 1 in Bolków. According to the parish website (October 2026), Mass is held on weekdays at 18:00 and on Sundays at 8:00, 10:00, 12:00 and 18:00 – the interior is best seen just before or after a service. Allow 30–45 minutes for the church. In front of the tower, on the west side, stands a statue of St John of Nepomuk from 1724, and beside the church a Baroque chapel from the 1720s. It is easy to combine with Bolków Castle and a walk around the market square – allow about half a day for everything.