St James the Apostle Church, Murowana Goślina

On the market square of Murowana Goślina – officially Plac Powstańców Wielkopolskich – stands the town's oldest monument, the parish church of St James the Apostle. Its walls record several centuries of rebuilding, but the most intriguing piece is a stone slab on the outside wall: a Renaissance tombstone with a Polish inscription that spent years buried in the ground after the church changed denomination.

History written in the walls

Granite blocks in the west front and in the base of the nave suggest the church may date back to Romanesque times. The Gothic brickwork and the east gable of the nave are dated to the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. The municipality gives 1605 as the year the brick church was built, when the town belonged to Jan Rozdrażewski; it replaced an older wooden church and was attached to a square tower.

The Baroque chancel was designed by Pompeo Ferrari; sources date it either to 1717 or to 1724–1726, when the parish priest Filip Woliński oversaw the work. In 1830 the tower was taken down and the nave extended, with the tower's stone blocks reused for the foundations and the west gable wall. During the 19th century a sacristy, a small turret on the chancel roof and a free-standing three-storey bell tower were added, and the whole site was enclosed by a wall with two gates.

The tombstone that came back from the earth

The slab commemorates Urszula Potulicka née Ostroróg, wife of the Kalisz voivode Piotr Potulicki, who then owned Goślina. She died in 1575, and the municipality describes her tombstone as a fine example of Protestant art in 16th-century Poland. When Catholics took over the church around 1600, the slab was buried in the churchyard and only dug up again in the 19th century. You can see it from outside even when the church is locked.

Inside the church

• The high altar with a painting of St James in an 18th-century silver cover and Gothic carvings at the top.
• A side altar with a Madonna of the Greater Poland school, also in an 18th-century silver cover, with more Gothic figures.
• The junction between the Gothic nave and the younger Baroque chancel – two eras are clearly visible.

On the Way of St James

The Greater Poland Way of St James is 235 km long and runs from Gniezno via Lednica, Murowana Goślina, Poznań and Leszno to Głogów; Goślina sits at km 52, and the route is marked with a white scallop shell. The Lubusz Way of St James towards Słubice also starts here – its first stage to Oborniki is about 17 km. Every year the parish and the town celebrate the patron's feast with a church festival and a fair.

Tripto tip

This is a working parish church with no fixed visiting hours, so the easiest time to look inside is just before or after Mass; allow 20–30 minutes. A few minutes' walk away is the Neoclassical Holy Spirit Church of 1784–1803, built on a circular plan with a dome. In late February and March add the Śnieżycowy Jar reserve near Starczanowo, where spring snowflakes bloom, and in summer the Forest Arboretum in Zielonka.