Satellite
  • Day 10

    Church of Our Lady in Summo

    September 17, 2019 in Poland ⋅ ⛅ 57 °F

    https://www.poznan.pl/mim/turystyka/en/-,p,37,5…

    This late Gothic rectorial church was most probably built where the stronghold's chapel, erected around 965 by Mieszko I's wife, Dobrawa, used to stand. It was constructed between 1431-47. In the early 19th century the church was in such terrible condition that the Prussian authorities ordered it demolished. That fate was only avoided thanks to the efforts of Archbishop Leon Przyłuski, which lead to restoration of the church in the years 1859-62.
    The west gable, crowned with a small bell, is ornamented with pointed blank windows and small ornaments with floral motifs in stone. The side elevations are partitioned with decorative cover profiles, between which there are high pointed windows (walled up on the northern side). At the base of the structure one can see a rock with characteristic grooves. As the story goes, they were created by knights sharpening their swords on the rock, which was supposed to give them supernatural power. The high roof is covered with ridge tiles (monk and nun). The church is entered from the south through a pointed portal made of profiled, glazed bricks. A similar portal, only walled up, can be found in the north elevation. The three - nave bay has a Gothic stellar vaulting over the naves and over the chancel and the ambulatory a sail vaulting on supporting arches from 1727. The polychromy inside the church, the design of the stained glass windows and the altar were made by Wacław Taranczewski between 1954-56.
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