St Nicholas Church in Owińska

Owińska is best known for its Baroque former Cistercian convent, yet the village's oldest monument is a far humbler church. The brick St Nicholas Church was built from the first half of the 15th century until 1574, and after almost eight decades of neglect it is back in use. It makes a short but rewarding stop for anyone curious about the Cistercian nuns' parish before the grand convent church took over.

History: from the nuns' parish to a ruin

The church was founded by the Cistercian nuns of Owińska and served as the parish church for centuries. That changed only in the mid-19th century, after the convent was dissolved and the parish moved to the former convent church. The small church gradually lost its role and from 1939 stood unused and decaying. The county authority describes it as a single-nave brick building laid in Polish bond, with a slightly narrower rectangular chancel.

What to see

• Painted ceiling beams in the nave – three original beams are decorated with rosettes, and two carry a Latin inscription dated 1574. It names Abbess Katarzyna Łuszczewska, parish priest Piotr Kuczyński and Jan, the miller from the upper mill, who may have carried out the work.
• Baroque gables, porch and sacristy – a later rebuilding gave the church its Baroque look. The county dates the gables to 1686, while other sources speak more generally of the 18th century; a porch was added on the south side and a sacristy on the north.
• Trace of a bell tower – records mention a wooden bell tower with a signal bell, built in 1778 against the west gable wall.
• The churchyard – among those buried here are Father Antoni Piotrowski, parish priest from 1939 to 1962 and earlier a chaplain on the transatlantic Gdynia–America line, and Franciszek Gapski, a veteran of the Greater Poland Uprising.

Did you know: a restoration in instalments

Saving the church took more than two decades. The roof was repaired in the 1990s, the walls were strengthened in 2011, and only the works of 2016–2017 restored the façades, the windows and doors in their original colours, the roof truss, plaster and floors. On 6 May 2018 Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki blessed the restored church. The parish priest noted at the time that the work was largely made possible by funding from Poznań County.

Tripto tips

This is a filial church of St John the Baptist parish, not a museum with fixed opening hours. You can see the exterior at any time; the interior with the beams is easiest to view during a service or after contacting the parish in advance. Allow 20–30 minutes for the church and churchyard. Combine the visit with a walk to the former Cistercian complex and the Spatial Orientation Park at the school for the blind.