St George's Church in Gliwice-Ostropa

St George's Church in Gliwice-Ostropa is a wooden church in the Ostropa district, about six kilometres west of the city centre. It belongs to the Wooden Architecture Trail of the Silesian Voivodeship. After the new, masonry Holy Spirit Church was built in 1925-1927 it ceased to be a parish church and is not currently used as one.

History

The first church probably stood here in 1340 and burnt down during the Hussite wars. Around 1640 the church was set on fire by the Swedes and only the chancel and the wooden tower from around 1544 survived. The nave was rebuilt after 1665, and the year 1667 was carved above the south portal. Consecration took place in 1719. The parish in Ostropa was established in 1807. From 2008 renovation and conservation work was under way, which included replacing the shingles and renewing the chancel and the polychromes.

Architecture and interior

The nave is wooden, of log construction, on a brick foundation. The masonry chancel is closed on three sides and strengthened with buttresses, and on the west side stands a post-built tower with a lookout storey and a tent roof. The whole is covered with shingles. The greatest value lies in the polychromes: the Baroque decoration of the nave from 1667-1668 and the paintings of the chancel from the end of the 17th or the beginning of the 18th century. On the north wall of the nave a Passion cycle is laid out in three bands, from the Last Supper to the Resurrection. The outermost panels show allegorical scenes, among them the jaws of Leviathan. On the chancel arch there is a motif of two trees of paradise and an angel playing the viola da gamba. The Baroque high altar was restored in 2015, and at its top stands a figure of St George on horseback piercing the dragon.

Nearby

It is less than two and a half kilometres from here to the Las Dąbrowa Nature Reserve. It is about five kilometres to the centre of Gliwice, where the Piast Castle and Villa Caro stand.

Practical information

• Address: ul. Piekarska 13, Gliwice-Ostropa.
• The aim of the work was to open the church to tourists, but it is worth checking the rules for entering the interior with the Holy Spirit parish in Ostropa.