St Lawrence's Church, Zabrze

On Church Hill in the Mikulczyce district of Zabrze stands the neo-Gothic Church of St Lawrence, but the parish is far older than its brick walls. A collection of Peter's Pence was recorded here as early as 1326, and a late-18th-century parish priest claimed that a chapel stood on this spot as far back as 1002. Today's church dates from the end of the 19th century and was built through the joint efforts of parishioners, a count and a bishop.

History: three churches on one hill

The first reliable record of the parish is a 1326 report on the collection of Peter's Pence, a papal tax; nothing is known about the church of that time. Around 1530 the owner of Mikulczyce, Daniel Ziemięcki the Elder, funded a wooden church whose altar held an image of Our Lady of Mikulczyce, a pilgrimage destination. By the late 19th century the parish had grown so much that the parish priest, Franciszek Cieślik, applied for permission to build a new church.

The money came from three sides: the parishioners raised 85,000 marks, Count Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck and the Bishop of Wrocław, Cardinal Georg Kopp, gave 98,000 marks, and the priest himself added 40,000 marks. The design was by Paul Jackisch, a building official from Bytom, and construction was managed by Johannes Langer of the W. Silber firm in Zabrze. The foundation stone was laid on 15 August 1892, work finished in 1894, and in May 1896 Cardinal Kopp consecrated the church in Donnersmarck's presence. Some furnishings were moved from the old church, including the painting of the Madonna.

What to see

• The organ in the gallery above the entrance: 45 stops, three manuals and pedals, built in 1929 by Carl Berschdorf of Nysa. It stands in the neo-Gothic case kept from the earlier instrument by Schlag & Söhne of Świdnica, which was destroyed in a natural disaster in 1928.
• A cast-iron cross made at the Sauer foundry in Zabrze and blessed on 4 September 1893.
• A memorial cross on Church Hill with a Polish and German inscription saying that the high altar of the old church stood here until August 1901.

Interesting facts

The old wooden church outlived the construction of the new one by almost a century. It burned down in 1982 after an arson attack, and the cross marking its former altar is what remains. Sources disagree on the exact day of the consecration, giving 6, 7 or 8 May 1896. The church is listed in the national register of historic monuments.

Tripto tip

This is a working parish church, opened mainly for services, so the best time to see the interior and the organ is just before or after Mass. The parish feast falls on the Sunday nearest to 10 August (St Lawrence's Day), and the feast of Our Lady of Mikulczyce on the first Saturday of September. Allow 30–40 minutes for the church and a walk around the hill.