Kościół Rzymskokatolicki pw. Jana Chrzciciela

Beautiful wooden one-nave church of St. John the Baptist and Our Lady of Czestochowa from the fifteenth century, rebuilt after the earlier destroyed church from the twelfth century, located in the town of Poniszowice, province, Silesia, commune Rudziniec. One of the most valuable objects of wooden architecture. In 1570, a wooden belfry was added next to the church.

A beautiful object worth seeing

Very nice recommendable to visit

Beautiful historic wooden church

The church is mentioned in documents from 1175. during the time of Pope Hadrian IV. Destroyed by a storm in 1399. The current one was built in 1404. with the remains of the original building and dedicated on October 11, 1499. The church was built of larch wood, with a log construction on a stone foundation. The presbytery closed on three sides, next to it from the north a rectangular sacristy with a collector's lodge on the first floor, founded by Aleksander Zawadzki in 1852. The lodge opens with a rectangular slide into the interior of the temple, and external stairs lead to it. Square nave, higher than the presbytery. From the north, south and west, the church is surrounded by Saturdays. Saturdays were supported on pillars with braces and covered with roof canopies beaten with shingles, boarded with boards in 1914. Around the presbytery a wide, overhanging eaves canopy, supported on buttresses, beaten with shingles. From the north, the church is adjacent to the chapel of St. Józef (the so-called "chapel of confession"), today St. Joseph and the Mother of God. There is a tomb crypt under the chapel. The roofs of the church and presbytery are gable. The roof of the chapel of St. Józef and Mother of God tent, shingle. Above the nave there is an octagonal turret with a lantern, covered with a baroque dome. Late Gothic entrance portals from the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, closed with a three-leaf cut off arch with two rollers on the axis. Wooden sacristy door with 17th century sheet metal. Doors to the nave from the west and to the stave lodge from the mid-nineteenth century. Windows in the church from different periods: older ones cut in the framework, newer ones fitted with beams. Situated on a hill, it is surrounded by a stone wall built of field stone in 1830-1837 and in 1865. Next to the church is a massive, free-standing belfry from 1520 with a pillar structure on a brick foundation and boarded with boards. It is located in the south-eastern part of the cemetery. Its square shape narrows upwards to a heavily suspended room, creating a unique structure not found in other temples. Halfway up the walls, it is surrounded by a wide eaves roof, broken by shingles. The roof of the tent tower turns into an octagonal pyramidal gable, shingled. The roof binding has the date 1570. Above the entrance on the beam, the date 1520 has been engraved. The tower was thoroughly renovated in 1908. Inside the church in the presbytery an apparent vault with an arch similar to a basket. In the nave, a flat ceiling with an elongated beam, supported on two octagonal columns. In the chapel of St. Joseph and the Mother of God, sacristy and lodge beamed ceilings. The music choir was originally located above the entrance to the chapel of St. Józef and the Mother of God, from 1844 he was placed from the west and supported on four wooden poles, including two wall ones. Beam choir ceiling. Four bells hang from the church tower. The oldest bell named "Word of the Lord" dates from 1536. and weighs 200 kg. In place of two other bells taken during the war in 1942, parishioners founded three new bronze bells: St. John the Baptist (weighing 600kg), Our Lady of Częstochowa (weighing 400kg) and Saint. Józef, weighing 500 kg).