Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Laliki

The wooden branch church stands in the hamlet of Pochodzita in Laliki, on a high rise in Milówka municipality. Its greatest curiosity is the walls and ceiling covered with religious engravings, which local folk artists made with a nail and a knife.

Where the present church came from

Today's church is the third chapel on this spot, and its shape comes from the extension of 1965. The first wooden chapel with a bell tower was put up in Pochodzita around 1890, in 1917 it was replaced by a new one, and that one burned down during the Second World War. The third chapel was built in 1947. From 1948 priests from Milówka travelled to it every two weeks, because the village of Laliki, until 1948 known as Szary Groń, only then received its present name. The parish in Laliki was established in 1989, and the church in Pochodzita became its branch.

Wooden construction under shingles

The church is of log construction on a stone foundation wall and has three naves, with no clearly separated chancel. The walls and roof are covered with shingles, and in the eastern part of the roof stands a square turret with a ridge bell. The entrance is preceded by a spacious glazed porch. The side aisles were added in 1965 and connected to the main nave by arcades. The monument is entered in the register, and the complex lies on the Wooden Architecture Trail of the Silesian Voivodeship.

An interior covered in engravings

The flat faceted ceiling and the walls are decorated with religious scenes carved with a nail and a knife and then covered with a thin layer of varnish. The iconographic programmes are divided in turn: the Work of Creation in the cloisters, Our Lady of Perpetual Help and the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary in the left side aisle, the Glorious Mysteries in the right, and in the main nave the Sorrowful Mysteries and a series of saints. Most of the works were made by Jan Krężelok of Koniaków and Jan Porębski of Laliki, and Ludwik and Franciszek Zawada, Franciszek Jakus and Franciszek Wojtas also worked on the decor. To the right of the high altar hangs a mechanical clock with a nativity scene.

What is in the area

Closest are the Lace Museum in Koniaków and the Zwardoń Ski resort. A trip into the mountains often starts here from the PTTK mountain hut at Przysłop below Barania Góra, from which a path leads to Barania Góra.

Practical information

• Address in the data: Laliki 158, hamlet of Pochodzita, Milówka municipality.
• This is a branch church, so access to the interior depends on services and arrangements with the parish in Laliki.
• The church stands on a rise, and the approach from the road is on foot.