Church of Our Lady of the Rosary in Czerwięcice

The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary in Czerwięcice is a Neoclassical branch church from the first half of the 19th century, standing in a small village in the municipality of Rudnik, in Racibórz County. It began as a chapel with a burial crypt of the von Wrochem family.

From burial chapel to church

The exact date of construction is not known. It is known that in the early 19th century the chapel was rebuilt in the Neoclassical style, and in 1999 it was extended and converted into a branch church dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary. The sarcophagi of the von Wrochem family were then moved from the crypt to the churchyard cemetery.

Neoclassical form and gravestone slabs

At the front the building has a recessed portico supported by two Tuscan columns, topped with a low triangular gable. The outer walls are divided by pairs of pilasters at the corners and by niches with round-arched windows, and above the gabled roof rises a square turret with a pavilion roof. Inside there are three 19th-century gravestone slabs of members of the von Wrochem family.

Three sandstone slabs are set into the outer wall. The first, from the early 17th century, shows the figure of a child and four heraldic cartouches. The second, from 1745, commemorates Karl Joachim von Wrochem, the first owner of Czerwięcice from this family. The third, from 1610, has been lost.

The cemetery by the church

The church is surrounded by a cemetery with a stone cross from 1720, considered the oldest in the Racibórz region. There is also a lapidarium of old gravestones, mainly of owners of the nearby palace. In the area you can see the palace in Rudnik, and Racibórz with its castle lies a few kilometres away.

Practical information

• Location: the village of Czerwięcice, Rudnik municipality, Racibórz County.
• The church is a branch church, so check the service times and whether the interior can be entered with the parish before your visit.
• The cemetery with the cross and the lapidarium can be seen from the outside.