St Catherine's Wooden Church, Bachórzec

A few kilometres from Dubiecko, among old trees, stands a larch-wood church from 1763 that lay abandoned for almost 40 years – and that, after restoration, looks once more as it did when the Krasicki family founded it. St Catherine's in Bachórzec has a rare three-aisled nave with timber posts and 19th-century painted decoration, and beside it stands a tall brick screen-type belfry.

History

The village belonged in turn to the Kmita, Stadnicki and Wapowski families, and from 1648 to 1944 to the Krasickis. The church was built in 1760–1763, funded by the then owner Antoni Krasicki and promoted by parish priest Jan Rymarski, partly using timber from the previous church. It was consecrated in 1763. In 1856 it was thoroughly renovated and given its neo-Baroque painted interior. It was damaged in both world wars, and in 1956 the roof was covered with sheet metal.

When a new brick church was built in 1961, the old one was abandoned. Restoration began in 2000 with the aim of returning it to its original appearance: the roof was again covered with wooden shingles, the sill beams and timbers replaced and the floor raised. In 2008–2010 the interior was restored, and furnishings previously moved to the new church returned to their places. The church has been a listed monument since 1992 and is now part of the Podkarpackie Wooden Architecture Route.

What to see

• The building – log construction, in two parts, with a three-sided chancel, a spacious porch at the front and separate roofs over nave and chancel. On the roof sits a small bell turret with an onion cupola.
• The three-aisled interior – two narrow side aisles divided off by pairs of posts linked by arches, a rarity in wooden churches.
• 19th-century painted decoration with figurative and ornamental motifs; the nave ceiling shows the patron saint, St Catherine. In the sacristy, stencilled ornaments survive.
• The furnishings: a Baroque high altar from the mid-17th century, Rococo side altars, a pulpit, 17th–18th-century paintings and a Gothic holy-water stoup from around 1500.
• The organ gallery with a bulging balustrade and the brick screen belfry to the east.

Tripto tip

Bachórzec is about 4–5 km west of Dubiecko. The church is surrounded by old trees. The historic interior is often closed outside services and Wooden Architecture Route events, so it is worth contacting the parish in advance. Allow 20–30 minutes to see the exterior. The best photo of the shingle roofs includes the belfry, with sunlight on the timber walls.