Church of the Assumption in Niemodlin

When conservators dismantled the Baroque high altar of the church in Niemodlin, Latin epitaphs and painted busts of apostles from the early 14th century appeared on the chancel wall. Among them is a rhyming four-line verse about a metre long – according to Dr Jacek Witkowski of the University of Wrocław, the oldest known rhymed wall epitaph in Poland. The former Gothic collegiate church on the market square, with its 62.7-metre tower, turned out to be one of the most valuable churches in the Opole region.

History: from village church to collegiate church

A first church was recorded in 1228, when Duke Casimir I of Opole granted Niemodlin to his palatine Klemens Gryfita together with patronage of the church. After the town received its charter, from around 1290 it served as the parish church, with a priest named Eckhard. On 5 May 1389 Duke Bolko IV asked the Bishop of Wrocław to raise it to a collegiate church – a status it kept until 1810.

The chancel dates from the late 13th century, the nave and tower from the second half of the 15th. On 17 June 1640, during the Thirty Years' War, the church burned almost completely; it was rebuilt in 1651. Lightning damaged the tower in 1655, 1781 and 1864. After the last rebuilding, which cost 3,900 thalers, it grew by 9.3 m to 62.7 m, and in 1865 it received a slender spire with a lantern. In the first half of the 18th century the nave was remodelled in Baroque style.

What to see

• Paintings from around 1300, found behind the high altar: two "Zacchaeus" images (busts of apostles – two of the original twelve survive) and three epitaphs. They commemorate the parish priest Eckhard and the knight Sieghard, first castellan of Niemodlin Castle. As the altar hides them, they are shown on display boards under the organ loft.
• Stone niches in the chancel from the time of construction: a tabernacle, a cupboard for liturgical vessels and a recess for books.
• Gothic sedilia from the 14th century, with three trefoil arches, and the chancel vault with 16th-century stucco ribs.
• The high altar of 1822, funded by Count Friedrich Praschma, with an Assumption after Guido Reni painted by the Düsseldorf artist Peter Joseph Molitor.
• The side chapels, with wall paintings of the lives of St Anne and St John of Nepomuk, and the late Baroque pulpit, restored in 2019–2021.
• By the south wall of the chancel – a Garden of Gethsemane group with Baroque statues of Christ and the apostles.

Interesting facts

The cherubs in the high altar painting are said to have the faces of the donors' children. The tower holds a Renaissance bell from 1522 with a minuscule inscription, brought from a demolished wooden church in Rogi, plus a cracked bell from 1608. The brickwork gives away the building's age: the chancel uses the so-called Wendish bond, the nave and tower the Polish bond.

Tripto tip

The church stands at Rynek 29 in Niemodlin. It is a working parish church; according to the parish website (October 2026), Sunday Masses are at 7:00, 9:00, 11:30 and 18:00, and weekday Masses at 6:30 and 18:00. The interior is best seen just before or after a service; 30–45 minutes is enough. Do not miss the display boards with the paintings under the organ loft – the only way to see what is hidden behind the altar.

Niemodlin lies about 25 km west of Opole. A few hundred metres from the church stands Niemodlin Castle, one of the largest residences in Opole Silesia, and the ponds of the Niemodlin Forest are worth a detour.