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Tomasz Dziubinski - Photography | profile | all galleries >> COLOR AND COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHY >> UNESCO - World Heritage Sites >> POLAND >> Wooden Churches of Southern Little Poland >> Wooden Church in Sękowa tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Wooden Church in Haczow | Wooden Church in Sękowa

Wooden Church in Sękowa

The wooden Roman Catholic church of St. Philip and St. Jacob the Apostles, built in the in 1520 and expanded in the 17th century, is striking for its remarkable construction, with external arcades running along all the outside walls of the building.

The church is located by the Sękówka River, between two villages: Siary and Sękowa. It is one of the most beautiful churches in the Subcarpatian Region. It was built around 1520, but definitely not later than 1522, as this very date is written on the baptismal font. St. Philip and St. Jacob, the Apostles, guard the entrance gate.

The church is one of the greatest and the most precious examples of wooden architecture in the region. It is made of larch wood in a Gothic style, and is characteristic for it's framework constuction. The double-shingle roof is very steep, with a triple presbitery and a cross on top. The presbitery and the aisle share the roof. Above the aisle there is a tower for ave-bell and an iron cross. There is a similar cross at the top of the tower. It was added in the 18th century as the last element of the church. The roof, which sticks out of the church's main body all around, is supported by columns of 1.7 m (that part of the roof is called "sobota"). It was meant to protect the weakest parts of the wooden building (the foundations) from water. Later, it was also a place where pilgrims, who did not manage to go inside, could hide. The original name "sobota" means "Saturday" in Polish, and the explanation is simple: many people lived so far from the church, that they had to come here on Saturday and spend the night here, if they wanted to take part in a Sunday mass.

This church has been designated UNESCO World Heritage Site (Wooden Churches of Southern Little Poland).
In 1994 the church was awarded (together with the Orthodox church in Owczary) a prestigious Medal of Prix Europa Nostra in the Hague.


Sekowa
Sekowa
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