Saint Sigismund's Church is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

Szydłowiec Szydłowiec (; ; ) is a town in Szydłowiec County, Mazovian Voivodeship, south-central Poland, with 5,243 inhabitants (31 December 2005). It is the seat of Gmina Szydłowiec (commune). Szydłowiec is part of the historic region of Lesser Polan ...

, Poland. It was built towards the close of the Gothic period (the church constitutive act is dated 1 January 1401) and is an example of the late-Gothic hall church.

History

By the Bishop's decree, which was issued on 1st January 1401 on the motion of Jakub Odrowąż and Sławko Odrowąż (later known under the nickname " Szydłowiecki"), the building of Saint Sigismund's Church started. The first church on the site was wooden. In 1493 Jakub Szydłowiecki commenced work to rebuild the church in stone. The building works lasted until 1525 and were completed by Jakub's brother . In the 17th century a church bell and tower were added.

Architecture and features

The exterior is of local sandstone. The church faces east and is composed of a three-bay

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

(presbytery) and a rectangular nave. On the northern side of the nave is the St. Stanislaus Chapel and the church vestibule; to the south is a Marian chapel. The chancel adjoins the

treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry; in a business context, corporate treasury. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be ...

and

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

to the north. The church's late-Gothic facade contrasts with its colorful Renaissance interior. The chancel ceiling is lierne or stellar vaulted. The construction plan for the ribbed vaulting was sketched into plaster on the northern wall; this well-preserved building plan was rediscovered during preservation works in the 1970s. The nave's ceiling is not vaulted, but made of larch wood. In the chancel is located the main altar, from the late Renaissance. On the

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

is a sculpture of the Holy Mary being crowned as queen of heaven. There are also paintings of various saints:

Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman province), Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced th ...

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

Saint Martin of Tours Martin of Tours (; 316/3368 November 397) was the third bishop of Tours. He is the patron saint of many communities and organizations across Europe, including France's Third Republic. A native of Pannonia (present-day Hungary), he converted to ...

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 ...

, Saint

Stanislaus of Szczepanów Stanislaus of Szczepanów (; 26 July 1030 – 11 April 1079) was a Polish Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Kraków and was martyred by the Polish King Bolesław II the Bold. He is the patron saint of Poland. Stanislaus is vener ...

Saint Christopher Saint Christopher (, , ; ) is venerated by several Christian denominations. According to these traditions, he was a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd-century Roman Empire, Roman emperor Decius (), or alternatively under the emperor Maximin ...

and

Saint Florian Florian (; AD 250 – 304) was a Christian holy man and the patron saint of chimney sweeps; soapmakers, and firefighters. His feast day is 4 May. Florian is also the patron saint of Poland, the city of Linz, Austria, and Upper Austria, jointl ...

. Also here is a late- Gothic

polyptych A polyptych ( ; Greek: ''poly-'' "many" and ''ptychē'' "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) which is divided into sections, or panels. Some definitions restrict "polyptych" to works with more than three sections: a diptych is ...

showing the

Assumption of Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Catholic Mariology#Dogmatic teachings, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows: It leaves open the question of w ...

and Gospel scenes; it was made in 1509 in the workshop of Marcin and Mikołaj Czarny in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. The top of the nave is ornamented with the Szydłowiecki family coat of arms. Standing in its centre is a figure of Saint Sigismund. The church's 19th-century organ is used for both sacred and secular purposes.. Around the church is a

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

, where can be found gravestones and memorial walls of local prominent figures. The memorial wall of Dorota Strzemboszowna is located in the surrounding wall. Another gravestone sculpture is that of a local priest, Kazimierz Owsiany Orłowski, an example of a late Baroque sculpture; it is also ornamented with a sepulchral

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

. The church's outer southern walls are inscribed with family names and dates of death, which originate from the 16th and 17th centuries; these commemorate people who were buried in the church cemetery. The burial ground has historic grave monuments by Bartolommeo Berrecci, namely of (1480–1532), and of (1746–1795). The sculpture of a sleeping figure on the memorial of Mikołaj and his wife Maria Radziwiłł () by Giacomo Monaldi was inspired by the '' Sleeping Ariadne'' sculpture of antiquity.

References

15th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Poland Szydłowiec Szydlowiec Buildings and structures completed in 1401 Churches completed in the 1400s {{Poland-church-stub