St Catherine's Church in Cięcina

The wooden church of St Catherine in Cięcina, in the municipality of Węgierska Górka, was built in 1542 as a branch chapel and has been extended several times since. It is one of the wooden monuments of the Silesian-Lesser Poland type, is entered in the heritage register and lies on the Wooden Architecture Trail of the Silesian Voivodeship.

History of the church

A church in Cięcina is already mentioned in a Peter's pence collection document of 1358, although it is not known whether it refers to the present site. The oldest part was built in 1542 on the initiative of Krzysztof Komorowski as a branch chapel of the church in Radziechowy. Until 1789 the church was a branch of Radziechowy, and then it became a separate parish. In 1666-1667 the nave was enlarged and a tower added. In 1893 the nave was lengthened and the tower was moved west on rollers. Two years later the chapel of St Francis of Assisi was added. In 1932 the tower was raised by almost seven metres. In autumn 2010 the church was covered with new larch shingles, split by hand.

Construction

The church is oriented. The nave and chancel are of log construction, the tower of post construction. The short chancel ends in three sides, the tower stands to the west, a two-storey sacristy and a women's porch (babiniec) stand to the north, and the chapel of St Francis to the south. The chancel has a false barrel vault from 1884.

Interior

The furnishings are Baroque, and there are six altars in the church. The high altar holds an image of St Catherine of Alexandria, and the side altars have, among others, Our Lady of Częstochowa and St Anne. Noteworthy are the Baroque pulpit and the stone font of 1705 with an openwork wooden cover decorated with four dolphins and a dove. Two valuable medieval paintings were moved in 1913 to the National Museum in Kraków.

Nearby

The Church of the Transfiguration in Węgierska Górka is a few hundred metres away in a straight line, and the Wędrowiec heavy combat bunker lies two kilometres further on.

Practical information

• Address: ulica Świętej Katarzyny, Cięcina.
• A branch church, in use. Arrange a visit to the interior with the parish.