St Martin's Church in Radziechowy

St Martin's Church in Radziechowy is a brick church whose history goes back to the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. It is entered in the heritage register as Gothic, and in its attic lives a colony of rare bats protected under the Natura 2000 network.

Extended over the centuries

After the Radziechowy parish was founded in 1390, a church was built, first wooden and, after a fire, brick. The oldest part is the chancel from the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. In 1722 the Chapel of St Isidore was added for the confraternity, which was written about in his “Dziejopis Żywiecki” by the village head Andrzej Komoniecki. In 1800, in place of a wooden bell tower from 1589, a new brick tower was built.

Inside are a late Baroque altar with a sculpture of St Martin and a pulpit with images of the Evangelists. The former Gothic figures of the Virgin and Child from the second half of the 14th century and of the Virgin from the end of the 16th century can now be seen in the Diocesan Museum in Kraków.

The lesser horseshoe bat colony

In the church's attics there has for years been a breeding colony of the lesser horseshoe bat, a rare and endangered species of bat. Inspections in June in 1992-2000 recorded from 25 to 73 individuals. The area “Kościół w Radziechowach” (code PLH240007, 0.06 ha) was designated as a Site of Community Importance, and in 2018 as a Special Area of Conservation.

Practical information

• Address: ul. Plebańska 1, Radziechowy.
• An active parish church, check the rules for visiting the interior with the parish.
• Nearby: Golgota Beskidów and the Church of St Bartholomew in Lipowa.