The church of St. John the Baptist and St. Catherine of Alexandria in Świerzawa is one of the most valuable monuments of sacred architecture in the region and also one of the oldest examples of Romanesque architecture in Poland. It currently serves as a secular museum. You can visit it with the use of audio guides and virtual reality goggles or with a guide during the Night Tour of Świerzawa, which is organized in the summer months. Concerts, performances, exhibitions by local artists, and collectors’ exhibitions are also held here.
The church is one of the sites on the Kaczawski Route of Medieval Polychromes.
For visiting the church, you’ll receive a sticker to the Passport of the Explorer of the Land of Extinct Volcanoes.
Virtual reality in the Church:
The latest attraction at the site (available since 2023) is virtual reality technology. For visitors (included in the ticket price), special goggles are available, which, when worn, allow you to see the interior of the church along with elements that are difficult or impossible to see in person. In the application, part of the polychromy that has already faded and is barely visible has been recreated. In it, there is also a Gothic altar from 1498, which was transferred to the Church of St. Martin in Poznań.
Virtual tours are accompanied by a narrator who tells the history of the church, the paintings, and the altar.
Description of the sight:
The church was built of stone in the mid-13th century and originally represents the Romanesque style. Until the end of the 14th century, it served as a parish church, later, after the construction of a new church in the city center, as a subsidiary church, and finally as a cemetery church. After a fire in 1482, it was rebuilt and expanded in the early 16th century. From 1552 to 1654, it served as a Lutheran church, and after 1713, it became a cemetery church once again.
After World War II, it was not used for religious purposes, and the Gothic furnishings were moved to other churches and museums. In the interior of the church, the unique feature is the medieval polychromes uncovered in the 1970s on the walls of the nave, in the presbytery, and in the apse. They depict, among other things, the so-called Tree of Life. The composition is dominated by the figure of Christ, and a peculiarity is the imaginative figures of animals, including storks, giraffes, and fish. On the wall of the chancel, there is a painting depicting the Crucifixion scene, and other motifs include scenes from the life of St. Catherine of Alexandria and the figure of St. Christopher.
In the chapel and on the walls of the church, there are 12 Renaissance stone epitaphs of the von Hoberg, von Zedlitz, and von Nimptsch families. Outside, you can see several sandstone portals in various architectural styles: Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance.
Description: Piotr Migoń
