The Collegiate Church of the Transfiguration of Jesus is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church in the

Garwolin Garwolin is a town on the Wilga (Garwolin), Wilga river in eastern Poland, capital of Garwolin County, situated in the southeast part of the Garwolin plateau in Masovian Voivodeship, southeast of Warsaw, northwest of Lublin. As of December 2021, ...

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

in the town of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. It belongs to the

Siedlce Siedlce () ( ) is a city in the Masovian Voivodeship in eastern Poland with 77,354 inhabitants (). The city is situated between two small rivers, the Muchawka and the Helenka, and lies along the European route E30, around east of Warsaw. It is ...

diocese and is listed as an official monument. The church was built at the turn of the 19th and 20th century in the

neo-baroque Neo-Baroque may refer to: * Neo-Baroque music * Neo-Baroque painting, a painting style used by Christo Coetzee and others *Baroque Revival architecture * Neo-Baroque film *the Organ reform movement The Organ Reform Movement or ''Orgelbewegung'' ...

style. It is the largest parish in Garwolin by registered members.

History

The first mentions of the Garwolin parish trace back to the year 1418. The original idea for an establishment of a parish was given by the then owner of Garwolin -

Duke Janusz II Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ...

- in 1407, but the act of establishment of the parish was lost after the death of pastor Kacper Sadłoch in 1603. The church in its oldest form was a wooden church built in the 15th century, named after the "Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary". The construction of the

building started in 1890 in place of an older building that was demolished due to a risk of collapsing. In the year 1900 the church was consecrated under the name of "Transfiguration" by bishop Franciszek Jaczewski. During

World War 2 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilisin ...

during the bombardment of Garwolin the wooden roof of the church was set aflame and burned down along with three towers and a few paintings inside.

Architecture

The church was constructed in the shape of a cross with one main nave and two side naves in the neo-baroque style. The ceiling and walls are decorated with paintings with the former representing biblical characters and the latter, various saints. The backdrop of the altar is ordained with golden and silver statues and columns as well as paintings called " Transfiguration" and "

Black Madonna of Częstochowa The Black Madonna of Częstochowa (; ), also known as Our Lady of Częstochowa () is a venerated icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary enshrined at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa, Poland. Pope Clement XI issued a Pontifical decree of canon ...

Statistics

There are 12,200 people registered to this parish with 110 of them not being of Catholic faith, making it the largest by number of registered members in the

Deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...

of Garwolin. The parish also holds record books going back to 1777.

References

{{coord, 51.8976, 21.6173, type:landmark_region:PL, display=title Catholic church buildings in Poland Garwolin County Baroque Revival architecture in Poland