St Mathew the Evangelist and St Lawrence the Martyr’s Parish Church

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St Mathew the Evangelist and St Lawrence the Martyr’s Parish Church

The 16th century parish church represents late Renaissance style. It is the second oldest historic building in Pabianice.

Description

It is a brick, three-nave basilican temple with a transept and a semicircular termination of the rectangular choir. The temple is cruciform and oriented. High tower, based on a quadrangle design and octagonal at higher levels, is situated in the western part of the church. It was rebuilt in its current shape in 1865. Originally it was lower and covered with an onion dome. Currently, it is topped with a pyramidal neo-Gothic roof with a clock and a cross on its top.

The Renaissance portal at the main entrance to the church, which is at the ground floor of the tower, is decorated with the coats of arms of the Cracow chapter and the town of Pabianice – three crowns. Above the old, walled-in entrance in the north wall of the church, there is an inscription: Beati qui habitant in domo Tua Domine - Blessed are they who dwell in Thy house, O Lord. Next to that Latin religious sentence, there is a signature: Jakub Fusski, a Cracow bricklayer built with his own hands (...) 1585. There are also two plaques devoted to the memory of canons – the founders of the 16th century church and the duchess Judyta from the 17th century.

Date or time of building

XVI w.

1583–1588.

Date or time of building

The 16th century

1583-1588

History

St Matthew’s church was built at the site of the previous wooden temple, which burnt in 1532. 50 years after the fire, canon Paweł Dembski, on the behalf the Cracow chapter, signed a contract for the construction of a brick church with a bricklayer Ambroży Włoch. The decision concerning building the temple in that place was made right after the nearby manor house of the Cracow chapter had been built. The construction of the church was finished in 1588, when the temple was consecrated.

Curious details

On the square in front of the church, there is a statue of a Franciscan monk St Maximilian Maria Kolbe made by Krystyna Faldyga-Solska in 1994. The saint, born in Zduńska Wola, lived in Pabianice until he was 13 years old.

There is a legend connected with the church and the nearby fortified manor house, according to which there is an underground tunnel linking the two buildings. It was supposed to be dug for an ugly princess, so she could attend the mass unseen by anybody...

Form of legal protection

The entries in the Voivodeship Heritage Register:

St Mathew and St Anne’s Parish Church, registry number: A/44 of 1967-08-29
St Mathew and St Anne’s Parish Church, registry number: 62-IV-10 of 1948-03-23

Object location

The church is located in the centre of Pabianice, at the Old Town, in front of the manor house of the Cracow chapter.

Accessibility

The church can be viewed from the outside and inside – after the mass. Masses take place on weekdays at 6:30 a.m., 8:00 a.m. and 6 p.m. and on Sundays and holidays at 6:30 a.m., 8:30 p.m., 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 6 p.m.