Kościół p.w. św. Klemensa w Zakrzewie - przykład barokowej, drewnianej świątyni wielkopolskiej
The Church of St. Clemens in Zakrzewo as an Example of a Baroque Wooden Church in Great Poland

Summary/Abstract: The greatest number of wooden and timbered churches in Europe is to be found in Poland. Copious descriptions concern the wooden churches in Silesia and Little Poland, while historical monuments from this group in Great Poland remain almost unknown, although their extant number totals about 270. The author discusses the most characteristic features of Protestant and Catholic wooden and timbered churches in Great Poland upon the example of the church in Zakrzewo near Rawicz. The wooden church of St. Clemens is oriented, and has a frame construction, while the chapel from 1647 and the sacristy are made of plastered brick. The interior of the church is covered by a wooden cradle ceiling, supported by a profiled crowning cornice. The semicircular rood arch with a beam distinguish the interior of the presbytery from the nave. The western part of the nave contains a choir with a profiled balustrade. The entrance to the chapel is decorated by a splendid Baroque grate from the first half of the eighteenth century. The most magnificent element of the church is its Baroque polychromy from about 1730, encompassing the entire interior: the ceiling, walls, pillars, beams underneath the choir and the sill of the choir, the rood arch and the doors to the porch. The plant tendril and acanthus leaf ornament, which covers the walls in the manner of a carpet, is executed in warm hues, endowing the interior with a joyful ambience. In between, arcade spaces contain figural depictions. The ceiling displays scenes from the life of St. Clemens as well as the figures of Our Lady, Christ and the apostles. The southern wall is decorated with scenes from the life of the Holy Virgin Mary: The Madonna and the Infant, The Immaculate Madonna, and The Enthroned Madonna, adored by kneeling founders, both secular and clergymen. The western wall shows St. Stanisław with Piotrowin, facing the king. The arcade sill and the walls of the choir feature the four Evangelists.

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