Landmarks

Holy Trinity Church in Grębień

About 2 km from the Wieluń–Kłobuck road, hidden among trees, stands the wooden Holy Trinity Church in Grębień from around 1500 — one of the oldest churches of the famous Wieluń group. Its greatest treasure is not the structure but the wall paintings from the first half of the 16th century.

Paintings of Primate Łaski

The church’s greatest ornament is the Gothic-Renaissance polychromy founded by Primate Jan Łaski in 1520–1531. The secular motifs were innovative for their time — the vault shows, among others, the Polish eagle and a wandering fiddler playing the polskie skrzypce, dated to 1530. The latter image earned its own place in research on early folk music: it is one of the oldest iconographic records of a Polish bowed instrument.

Architecture of the Wieluń group

The church is wooden, covered by a high shingled roof, with a tower slightly projecting above the ridge — the model for the whole family of Wieluń churches. In 1900–1914 a sacristy and porch were added, but the late-medieval core remains untouched. The village’s history is older than the church: Grębień has existed since at least the 13th century, and its beginnings reach back to a Lusatian-culture burial ground from nearly three thousand years ago.

In practice

Grębień lies 9 km south of Wieluń, in the Pątnów commune; access is easy from the DK45. The church stands away from the buildings, so park at the side road and walk the last stretch. The interior — polychromy included — can be visited by arrangement with the parish; combine the trip with the churches in Kadłub and Gaszyn, a dozen minutes’ drive away.