Church of St James the Elder in Lubsza

The Church of St James the Elder the Apostle in Lubsza is a Gothic church with Renaissance features, built of brick and stone in the second half of the 14th century or at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. It stands on the site of an earlier wooden church.

Stone from the glacier

The walls were built of erratic boulders left by the glacier. The chancel has a barrel vault with lunettes, the nave a flat ceiling, and the tower two storeys: a lower four-sided one and an upper octagonal one, from the early 19th century, topped with an onion dome. In the 19th century a Chapel of St Anthony and a wooden porch covered with shingles were added to the church.

Interior

The altar from 1934 covered the former chancel arch; it contains a painting of St Adalbert by Czesław Kuryatta. The decoration of the interior is owed to Father Michał Brzoza. In the church hangs a bell from 1536 weighing 500 kg, and there is an old mechanical clock made after 1770. The stained glass was made in 1937 and 1938. Beneath the church there were three crypts, two of which were partly destroyed in 1945 when heating was installed.

Surroundings

In the church grounds stands a monument of Christ the King by Piotr Triebler from 1933, surrounded by boulders with the names of Lubsza's priests, and the chapel of John of Nepomuk. In the area lies the Góra Grojec nature reserve.

Practical information

• Lubsza, Woźniki municipality; an active parish church of the Diocese of Gliwice.
• Arrange a visit to the interior with the parish.