Holy Trinity Church in Rachowice

The Church of the Holy Trinity in Rachowice combines a wooden nave from the 17th century with a brick, Gothic chancel from the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. It stands in the cemetery in the village in Gliwice County and lies on the main route of the Wooden Architecture Trail of the Silesian Voivodeship, in its Gliwice loop.

History

The village was mentioned in 1305, and the parish in a list from 1447. The present wooden nave was built around 1668. A bell tower was added in 1679-1688, destroyed by fire in 1705 and rebuilt in 1780-1790. The church has been renovated many times, most recently in 1998-2012 (the altars and the roof).

Architecture and interior

The log-built nave has a plan close to a square and is surrounded by soboty (galleries) supported on posts with braces. Above the wooden tower rises a high, octagonal pavilion roof covered with shingles. The interior is dominated by Baroque furnishings: a high altar from before 1679 with a painting of the Holy Trinity, late Baroque side altars and a 17th-century pulpit basket. The organ was made in 2008-2009 on the model of the earlier one, keeping the original case from the 17th century. On the outer wall of the chancel survives a cast-iron gravestone cast at the Gliwice Ironworks.

Practical information

• Address: ulica Wiejska, Rachowice.
• From the former cemetery fence a wooden gate covered with shingles has survived. A cycling route no. 15 also runs past the church.
• Nearby: the church in Sośnicowice and the church in Sierakowice.