The Church of Our Lady is the oldest church in the town of

Sławno Sławno ( Kashubian: ''Słôwno'', ) is a town on the Wieprza river in Middle Pomerania region, north-western Poland, with 12,511 inhabitants (2019). It is the administrative seat of Gmina Sławno, though not part of it. The town is also the ...

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 ...

. Initially named simply the Church of Our Lady (, literally "Mary the Virgin's Church") it was later renamed after

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

before being renamed to its current vocation of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary ().
Rejestr zabytków nieruchomych
– województwo zachodniopomorskie'' nline Narodowy Instytut Dziedzictwa, (in Polish) The

Brick Gothic Brick Gothic (, , ) is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Baltic region, Northeast and Central Europe especially in the regions in and around the Baltic Sea, which do not have resources of standing rock (though Glacial erratic, ...

church was constructed between 1326 and 1364 by Duchess Zofia, the consort of

Barnim IV, Duke of Pomerania Barnim IV of Pomerania (1325 – 22 August 1365) was a Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast-Rügen. Life He was the second son of Duke Wartislaw IV of Pomerania-Wolgast and the brother of Bogislaw V and Wartislaw V. He married Sophie of Werle (13 ...

. Initially the church was owned by the

Joannites The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there un ...

. In the late 15th century the church was refurbished and soon afterwards received an early Renaissance altarpiece. Since the 16th century the church served a local Protestant community. The church was destroyed by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

after the town of Sławno had been captured on 7 March 1945, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Among the pieces destroyed by Soviet soldiers was the altar and its altarpiece. Rebuilt between 1947 and 1967, the church was given back to the Catholic

Franciscan Friars The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor being the largest contem ...

. Currently it is used by one of two Catholic parishes in Sławno.

References

See also