St Vitus Church in Sierpc

Set into the walls of Sierpc's parish church are millstones, built in alongside fieldstones and brick. This is the oldest monument in Sierpc — the Gothic church of Saints Vitus, Modestus and Crescentia from the 15th century, standing in the Old Town between Farna, Biskupa Floriana and Benedyktyńska streets. Tradition dates the parish to 1003 and places the first church on the ruins of a 10th-century pagan shrine.

History: five centuries of fires and rebuilding

The parish was probably founded in the 11th century, and a parish priest is recorded in 1449. The present brick church was built at the end of the 15th century, according to the parish possibly funded by Prokop and Feliks Sierpski. In 1569 it was enlarged and restored by Andrzej Sierpski of Gulczewo, Voivode of Rawa and Starost of Płock — the family's burial chapel on the south side dates from this time. The church burned in 1630, 1648 and 1794; after the last fire rebuilding dragged on for decades, and the parish gives 1861 as the year it was consecrated again. During the Second World War the Germans used the church as a warehouse, and during repairs in 1952–1953 a sacristy was added. In 1952 Władysław Drapiewski painted the interior.

What to see

• The massive four-storey west tower on a square plan — left unplastered, it clearly shows the mix of brick and stone in the walls.
• The Sierpski burial chapel of 1569 on the south wall.
• The baroque high altar from the first half of the 18th century with rococo ornament, statues of St Stanislaus and St Adalbert and angels. The central panel holds a 20th-century copy of Our Lady of Częstochowa, with an image of the patron saints at the top.
• 18th-century side altars, a baroque pulpit and 18th-century monstrances, which the parish lists among its most valuable treasures.
• The straight-ended chancel and nave windows with round and basket arches — traces of successive rebuildings.

Tripto tips

The church is an active parish church, so the interior is easiest to see around services. The parish lists weekday Masses at 9:00 and 18:00, and on Sundays and holidays at 7:00, 8:00, 9:30, 11:00, 12:30 and 18:00. Half an hour is enough for a walk around the outside and a short look inside. The church is a few minutes' walk from the market square, so it combines easily with the Museum of the Mazovian Countryside open-air museum. Look at the unplastered north wall — that is where you see best what the church was built from.