Parish Church of Archangel Michael

The parish in Wietrzno was established in the 1500s, and the first wooden church was built here at the same time. It was dismantled in the 18th century for technical reasons. The church of Archangel Michael was then built in 1752, and some materials from the old structure were used for this purpose.

The church is an example of 18th century wooden sacral architecture making reference to late-Gothic traditions of carpentry in Lesser Poland. The log church is clad with vertical wood boards. The tower is a post-and-frame structure, and the vestibules are post-and-beam structures. The church is oriented towards the East. The chancel is adjoined by a rectangular sacristy on the northern side. The nave with a rectangular floor plan, along its entire length is adjoined by a rectangular porch. The tower, on the western side comprises a vestibule on the ground floor, and a porch at the entrance. This is a three-part building, mainly covered with a gable roof which is completed with a three-pitched segment at the eastern end. Above the nave there is a turret. The tower comprises a top chamber and is clad with decoratively finished wood boards.

In the nave there is a ceiling with casings and in the chancel - with a cove. The chancel entry is rectangular with truncated corners. Inside we can see figural and ornamental wall paintings from 1880. The interior furnishings such as the high altar, side altars and pulpit are late-Baroque in style and date from the 1700s. The high altar holds a late-Gothic painting of Our Lady of the Angels from 1480. The church also features a stone baptismal font from 1906, and a representation of St. Lawrence from ca. 1760.

A new cemetery and rectory buildings are located next to the church yard.

According to a local legend the picture of Our Lady of the Angels originally was in Košice, Slovakia. It was brought to Wietrzno during the Hussite Wars. From the start the painting was an object of veneration. Before the First World War religious festivities in Wietrzno attracted pilgrims from all over Poland and from northern Hungary (which comprised Slovakia).

Photo: Krzysztof Zajączkowski, PROT

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