Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Ścinawa Nyska

The date 1585 is carved above the tower door of the church in Ścinawa Nyska – a reminder of the Renaissance church of which only the tower survived. The rest was rebuilt in the 18th century in Baroque style, and the whole complex stands on a hill in the middle of the village, surrounded by a stone wall, old lime trees and two gates. The Korfantów municipality calls it its most valuable religious monument.

History: Renaissance tower, Baroque church

According to the National Heritage Board, a church in Ścinawa Nyska was recorded in the early 14th century, while the municipality even gives 1226 as the first mention of the local parish. For several centuries the village belonged to the bishops of Wrocław. The tower was built in 1585–1586, and the present main body probably dates from the second quarter of the 18th century, keeping the Renaissance tower. Today it is a daughter church; most of the village's pre-war German inhabitants were expelled after 1945.

What to see

• Four-storey tower – the top storey is divided by blind arcades and covered in floral sgraffito, crowned with a parapet and an octagonal spire.
• Pointed-arch portal in the tower with a keystone bearing a mason's mark and the date 1585.
• Two gates – a Renaissance one at the foot of the hill and a Baroque one at the end of the path up to the church.
• Interior with a sail vault and four semi-elliptical chapels with galleries.
• Régence-style high altar with statues of St Jude Thaddeus and St John the Evangelist, and a pulpit with the four Evangelists and the Holy Trinity on its canopy.
• Fourteen paintings attributed to Michael Willmann because of their similarity to his canvases from Lubiąż Abbey.

Tripto tip

Twenty to thirty minutes is enough to walk round the hill, gates and wall; start at the Renaissance gate below and take the stone path up to the tower to see the sgraffito close up. As a daughter church it is usually opened for services, so if you want to see the altars and paintings, check current Mass times with the parish before you go. The village lies in Korfantów municipality, on the border with Prudnik municipality.