Church of St John the Baptist in Olsztyn

The stones of Olsztyn's church were, until the early 18th century, part of the castle walls on the neighbouring rock. The Baroque Church of St John the Baptist was built in 1722–1729 from material taken from the ruins. In its crypt, behind glass, lies the mummified body of an officer from the time of the Bar Confederation, whose identity remains unknown to this day.

History: a church made of castle stone

The parish of Olsztyn was established on 26 February 1552 by the Archbishop of Gniezno, who carved it out of the parish of Mstów. The first wooden church burned down along with the whole town on 1 September 1719. The parish priest, Father Łęczyński, decided to build a new church of stone and away from the houses to avoid a repeat. He received financial support from the local governor, Jerzy Lubomirski, who allowed part of the ruined castle to be dismantled and timber to be felled in the forest. His successor, Wojciech Męciński, paid for the furnishings. The church was consecrated on 9 November 1729 by the Bishop of Livonia, Augustyn Wessel. It was restored in 1836, 1907 and 1956–1958, among other years, and the most recent major renovation reopened the main entrance under the tower.

What to see

The church has a single nave on a cross-shaped plan, two side chapels and five richly decorated altars. It stands at the foot of the castle hill, so from the churchyard you get a good view of the ruins its walls came from.

• The high altar, in late-Baroque style, with six columns and a painting of the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan. Between the columns stand figures of St George, St Stanislaus, St Augustine and a saint who hasn't been firmly identified, possibly St John of Kęty.
• The Chapel of the Holy Angels, with its altar and the epitaph of the parish priest Joachim Myszkierski, who died on 10 July 1825 at the age of 70.
• The epitaph of Bishop Michał Kosmowski by the sacristy.

The crypt

Three coffins stand in the crypt. The first holds the remarkably well-preserved, mummified body of a man in the uniform of a Polish army officer from the Bar Confederation (1768–1772), an armed uprising of Polish nobles against Russian influence. The second holds a woman in a black bonnet, the third the priest Joachim Myszkierski. The confederate's body is visible through a glass panel. Historians have not been able to establish who he was. The parish mentions a theory that he was a close associate of Kazimierz Pułaski, but this remains a hypothesis.

Tripto tip

• Mass times: Sundays at 7:00, 9:00, 11:00 (main Mass), 12:30 and 16:30. On weekdays from October to March at 7:00, 17:00 and 17:30, and from April to September at 7:00, 18:00 and 18:30.
• The crypt: there are no published visiting hours for the crypt, so ask the parish before you come.
• Feast days: the feast of St John the Baptist on 24 June and the main feast of the Transfiguration on the Sunday after 6 August draw many pilgrims to Olsztyn.
• Best photo: from the castle hill you look down on the church against the forest.
• Time needed: 20–30 minutes, or half a day combined with the castle ruins.