St Adalbert's Church, Jeleśnia

On the road from Żywiec to the Slovak border crossing at Korbielów, in the upper part of Jeleśnia, stands the Baroque Church of St Adalbert (św. Wojciech). Its tower is topped with a domed cap that looks more like the churches on the Slovak side of the mountains than those in Poland. Inside, an almost complete set of 18th-century furnishings has survived, and the small bell on the roof is linked to one of the most colourful legends of the Żywiec region.

History: from a wooden chapel to a pseudo-basilica

The first church was built by the villagers in 1584 on a plot known as Witkowa; at the time it belonged to the parish of Żywiec. That same year Jan Wayzer of Dolný Kubín cast a bell for it with a Latin inscription calling the faithful to worship. The wooden church burned down in the 1620s and a new one soon followed, now dedicated to St Adalbert. In 1628 Queen Constance of Austria, owner of the Żywiec estates, endowed the parish church, and in 1636 Jeleśnia became an independent parish.

The masonry church was built in 1693–1702 with a single nave. In 1778–1785 side aisles and the tower were added, giving the church its current form of a pseudo-basilica: three naves, with the central one having no windows of its own. In 1986 the church and the 1817 presbytery were entered in the register of historic monuments.

What to see

• The tower, two storeys high with rounded corners and a domed cap – similar to those of the churches in Liptovské Matiašovce and Rabča in Slovakia.
• The Rococo high altar of 1790 with a crucifix that is covered by a painting of the Holy Family during Advent, the Christmas season and the months devoted to Mary. The altar is crowned by a round stained-glass window of St Adalbert and a golden Eye of Providence.
• Four oak confessionals from 1776 by Gabriel Fabiański of Sucha Beskidzka and a Rococo organ loft from 1785 carved by Józef Pach of Żywiec.
• The font and pulpit of 1790 – Christ the Good Shepherd stands on top of the pulpit, and its door bears the tablets of the Ten Commandments.
• Two stone holy-water stoups from 1788 in the porch, made by Wojciech Kucharski, a stonemason from Żywiec, and the painting of the patron saint by Antoni Krząstkiewicz, dated 1857.
• A Pietà in an outside niche facing the main road.

Interesting facts

In the early 18th century, Andrzej Komoniecki, the mayor (wójt) of Żywiec, recorded the story of the small bell in his chronicle of the region. On the Studant meadow above Korbielów, a shepherd set fire to a hollow tree in which robbers had hidden their money. The coins melted into a lump, and from this metal the bell for Jeleśnia's church was supposedly cast. The fate of the other bells is less legendary: in 1916–1917 the Austrian army requisitioned two of them, and in 1918 took 50 tin pipes from the organ. The current instrument, built in 1900 by the firm of Otto Rieger, has 23 stops.

Tripto tip

In the northern part of the choir, look for the black epitaph from the 1680 tomb of parish priest Sebastian Chabowski – its Latin motto, "Today me, tomorrow you", is a classic Baroque reminder of mortality. The church is usually open around services. Next to it is a surviving part of the old churchyard with ten stone grave slabs and old trees listed by the conservation authorities. Allow 30–45 minutes; the church is an easy stop on the way into the Żywiec Beskids or across the border to Slovakia.