A Baroque parish church in the centre of Jeleśnia, with a Rococo high altar, processional banners and an organ from 1900.
St Adalbert's Church stands by the market square in Jeleśnia and is one of the oldest monuments of the Żywiec region. The Baroque brick church has three naves and a two-storey tower, and the parish it serves was founded in 1628 by Queen Constance of Habsburg.
The first church in Jeleśnia was built in 1584 by the inhabitants; it still belonged to the Żywiec parish. A bell cast by Jan Wayzer of Dolný Kubín dates from that year. In 1618 the priest Wojciech Gagatowski erected a new church on the site of the burnt wooden one and gave it the dedication to St Adalbert. The parish was established in 1628, and the church was consecrated in 1636. The present brick building is listed in the heritage register together with the presbytery from 1817.
The church has a pseudo-basilica layout: three naves, of which the central one has no windows. It was built of stone and is about 46 metres long and 16 wide. The four-sided tower with chamfered corners is topped with a dome-shaped helmet, similar to those on the Slovak churches in Liptovské Matiašovce and Rabča, which betrays influences from the south. In a niche on the side of the main road stands a Pietà.
The high altar is Rococo, from 1790. The side altars date from various periods, from the mid-18th century to the 19th century. The furnishings include five double-sided processional banners from 1729-1793, four late Baroque confessionals from 1776, a Rococo music gallery from 1785, a pulpit and font from 1790 and a monstrance from 1779 made by Kraków goldsmiths. The church also has an organ from 1900 with 23 stops.
Around the church a fragment of the former churchyard has survived, with stone slabs and a dozen or so gravestones. Right next to it, near the market square, stands the historic inn in Jeleśnia.
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