Basilica of John Beheading
The Basilica of John Beheading ( Polish Bazylika Mniejsza pw. Ścięcia św. Jana Chrzciciela ) is a Roman Catholic church in Chojnice in the Polish Pomeranian Voivodeship . The oldest church in the city was built in the 14th century in the style of the Pomeranian brick Gothic. The church of the Pelplin diocese has the title of a minor basilica .
history
On the site of the earlier wooden church, construction of the church began from the choir side in 1340. After completion in 1360, the church was consecrated in 1365 by Bishop Piotr. During the Reformation, the church was Protestant from 1555 to 1616. Of the three chapels added afterwards, only the Lady Chapel has survived.
The church was repeatedly damaged by fires. After the fire in 1657, reconstruction took 21 years. The parish archive was also lost in the fire in 1733. The church vaults could not be replaced until 1924. At the beginning of the Second World War , all glass paintings were destroyed in 1939; the fire at the end of the war in 1945 required ten years of reconstruction. In 1993 Pope John Paul II granted the church the rank of minor basilica.
architecture
The three-aisled hall church was built in the style of the Pomeranian brick Gothic from red brick on a foundation of granite blocks. The church building is 46 meters long, almost 20 meters wide and 14.6 meters high. The square tower on the west side forms the main portal. The choir with an altar is located in the extension of the main nave. The main nave is spanned by a star vault, the side aisles are covered with ribbed vaults. In the western part of the main nave there is a gallery with the organ. The walls of the nave are decorated with polychromy. In the north aisle is the entrance to the crypts , visible through a glass plate , in which, among others, the Gdańsk painter Herman Han was buried. He had created frescoes and paintings for the church.
Furnishing
The choir windows are decorated with stained glass, mainly depicting the figure of Saint John the Baptist. The neo-Gothic main altar saved from the fire was replaced by a silver altar that shows scenes from the Gospel. In the south aisle there are two side altars for the Sacred Heart and St. Joseph.
In the Lady Chapel there is a copy of the Beautiful Madonna of Toruń from the local cathedral . Only the baroque baptismal font in the form of a chalice from the beginning of the 18th century remains from the original church furnishings . Its lid shows the figures of Christ and St. John.
Web links
- Parish website (Polish)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bazylika Ścięcia św. Jana Chrzciciela on gcatholic.org
- ↑ a b History of the parish (Polish)
- ↑ a b Basilica of St. John the Baptist in Chojnice (Konitz)
Coordinates: 53 ° 41 ′ 43.1 ″ N , 17 ° 33 ′ 47.9 ″ E