The Collegiate church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of the World () in

Stargard Stargard (; 1945: ''Starogród'', 1950–2016: ''Stargard Szczeciński''; or ''Stargard an der Ihna''; ) is a city in northwestern Poland, located in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. In 2021 it was inhabited by 67,293 people. It is situated on ...

, or simply the St. Mary's Church, is a noted architectural monument in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

Pomerania Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...

. It closes the eastern part of the Old Town Market. The monument is a part of the

European Route of Brick Gothic The European Route of Brick Gothic (EuRoB) is an association of cities, towns, regions, municipalities and institutions that have Brick Gothic buildings in their territory or have their headquarters in a Brick Gothic building. The network also incl ...

. It is a

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, headed by a dignitary bearing ...

, but inhabitants of the town commonly call it "the Cathedral".

History

The oldest known mention of the Church's existence is from writings in the year 1248. The bishop of Cammin, having returned Stargard to Duke

Barnim I Barnim I the Good ( 1217/1219 – 13 November 1278), from the Griffin dynasty, was a Duke of Pomerania (''ducis Slauorum et Cassubie'') from 1220 until his death. Life Son of Duke Bogislaw II and Miroslava of Pomerelia, he succeeded to the Duc ...

, stipulated his law to the church. The Church, in a quickly developing Stargard, became too small for regular attendants. In 1292, construction started on a new and more impressive place of worship. In this phase, the Church had a three nave structure, with all

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

s of equal height, and no tower. The cathedral can be classified to the cathedrals of the Wendic quarter, typical of the Hanseatic towns in area. The polygonal choir stall has a 5/8 conclusion similar to the St. Mary's Church of Lübeck. In the period from 1388 to about 1500, the last expansion of the structure emerged with the construction of the Presbytery and towers. The church and adjoining city walls represent one of Poland's official national Historic Monuments (''

Pomnik historii Historic Monument (, ) is one of several categories of objects of cultural heritage in Poland, objects of cultural heritage (in the singular, ''zabytek'') in Poland. To be recognized as a Polish historic monument, an object must be declared suc ...

''), as designated on October 4, 2010. Its listing is maintained by the National Heritage Board of Poland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's Church, Stargard Szczecinski

Gothic architecture in Poland Stargard County 13th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Poland The Most Holy Virgin Mary, Queen of Poland