St. Nicholas' Church in Czulice

Identifier
DZIELO/12482
Amount
1
Catalogue note author
Maria Działo

History of work

The first church in Czulice was mentioned in the years 1325-1327. In 1438, it was endowed by Jan Czulicki, of the Czewoja coat of arms. The second church was built in the first half of the 16th century. It could have taken place in 1547 as the date placed on the southern portal of the church indicates. The church was mentioned in the visitation records of 1596 for the first time. The temple has been renovated many times. One of the most important restoration works took place in 1720 thanks to the foundation of Zygmunt Morski. The next stage of works started in 1781: "[Father] Franciszek Minocki (...) with Mrs. Anna Grodzicka, née Morska, Castellan of Oświęcim, a Patron of high virtue, have jointly undertaken to repair the Church nearly from the ground up." The renovation must have taken several years as the church was not described during the visit in 1783 due to the ongoing works "towards significant repairs that are now being executed, and therefore its material condition shall not be described." It was then that the church was given its present Rococo furnishings. The inventory from 1827 shows that the chancel was separated from the nave by a wooden balustrade (which was not preserved to the present day). The fourth renovation of the church took place in 1856 and involved the construction of a new polychrome. Ten years later, the history of the church was marked by an unfortunate event. The part of the temple housing a side altar with the painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary burnt down as a result of a lightning strike. The beginning of the 20th century was marked by further renovations of the church, as the parish priest Andrzej Bielski wrote in 1902: "So decrepit is the church that it shakes and threatens to collapse during a storm." In 1906, the shingle roofing was replaced with roof tiles, another formwork was added and other elements, such as door woodwork and joinery in the sixteenth-century portals, were replaced. At the end of the 20th century, the church also required immediate renovation, which began in 1995 on the initiative of Father Wiesław Grzechyno. The roof and bell tower were repaired, the ridge turret was completely rebuilt, and all wooden structural elements of the temple and its polychrome underwent maintenance works. Damaged windows were also replaced. The following year marked the commencement of renovation of the temple's furnishings: the pulpit and the main altar, and the side altars in 1997. This comprehensive renovation of the temple was completed in 1998. The interior of the church is covered with polychrome created in 1947. The oldest Gothic elements of the church include three portals and one window frame, a 15th century epitaph plate for the supposed founder, Jan (?) of Czulice, embedded in the floor of the chancel, depicting a knight in a Czech capeline helmet, and a sculpture of Madonna and the Child from the last quarter of the 14th century, located in the Archdiocesan Museum in Krakow. The second important monument, currently located outside the temple in Czulice, is a painting depicting three St. Johns (John the Evangelist, John the Baptist and John the Merciful), now kept in the treasury of St. Mary's Basilica in Krakow. Noteworthy exhibits of goldsmithery include the chalice and monstrance signed by Marcin Lekszycki, a Cracow goldsmith operating in the years 1763-1798. An inventory from the beginning of the 18th century and a visitation report from 1783 noted that there was a wooden bell tower (now missing) with two bells located next to the church.

Abstract

The St. Nicholas' Church in Czulice was built in 1547. It belongs to the local variety of "gothic" churches in Lesser Poland around the mid-16th century. It is one of the numerous examples of a solution that rejects joint covering of buildings with one roof with one ridgepole above a nave and a chancel. An interesting architectural element of the temple are portals closed with an ogee arch, especially the southern portal decorated with arcade and date of construction of the church. The oldest works of art from the furnishings of the temple include: an epitaph plaque, embedded in the chancel floor, of alleged funder Jan Czulicki from the 15th century, as well as a gothic sculpture of the Virgin Mary with the Child from the last quarter of the 14th century, currently located in the Archdiocese Museum in Cracow. The second important monument, currently stored outside the temple in Czulice, is a painting depicting three St. Johns (John the Evangelist, John the Baptist and John the Merciful), which is located in the treasury of the Basilica of St. Mary. The present furnishings of the church are baroque altars, in which works of Cracovian painters – Teodor Stachowicz and Kazimierz Mołodziński, are placed.

How to cite?

Maria Działo, "St. Nicholas' Church in Czulice", [in:] "The Sacred Lesser Poland Heritage", 2024, source:  https://sdm.upjp2.edu.pl/en/works/st-nicholas-church-in-czulice

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