Wooden churches of Southern Lesser Poland

Wooden Churches of
Southern Lesser Poland

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Criteria	Cultural: iii, iv
Reference	1053
Inscription	2003 (27th Session)
class=notpageimage| Locations of the UNESCO inscribed wooden churches in Poland

Wooden Churches of Southern Lesser Poland and Subcarpathia of the UNESCO inscription are located in Gorlice, Nowy Targ, Bochnia counties (Lesser Poland Voivodeship or Małopolskie), and Brzozów County (Subcarpathian Voivodeship) and are in Binarowa, Blizne, Dębno, Haczów, Lipnica Dolna, and Sękowa. There are in fact many others of the region which fit the description: "The wooden churches of southern Little Poland represent outstanding examples of the different aspects of medieval church-building traditions in Roman Catholic culture. Built using the horizontal log technique, common in eastern and northern Europe since the Middle Ages..."

The wooden church style of the region originated in the late Medieval, the late sixteenth century, and began with Gothic ornament and polychrome detail, but because they were timber construction, the structure, general form, and feeling is entirely different from the gothic architecture or Polish Gothic (in stone or brick). Later construction show Rococo and Baroque ornamental influence. The form of these Roman Catholic churches is deeply influenced by the Greco-Catholic and Orthodox presence in the region. Some display Greek cross plans and onion domes, but the most interesting of the churches combine these features with the Roman forms with elongated naves and steeples. Other collections of wooden churches of the region are in the open-air museums in Sanok and Nowy Sącz.

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

• 
  St. Michael the Archangel Church in Dębno from 15th century
• 
  St. Leonard Church in Lipnica Dolna, late 15th century
• 
  Church of St. Phillip and St. Jacob in Sękowa, from 1520

• 
  Church of the Assumption of Holy Mary and St. Michael the Archangel, Haczów, Poland; the oldest wooden gothic temple in Europe, 1388
• 
  Church of All Saints in Blizne, east of Jasienica Rosielna
• 
  St. Michael the Archangel Church in Binarowa from circa 1500

Other wooden churches of the region

• 
  Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Lachowice, 1789-1791
• 
  John the Baptist Church in Orawka, circa 1750
• 
  John the Baptist Church in Orawka, circa 1750
• 
  St. Michael the Archangel Church in Szalowa, from 18th century
• 
  Szalowa interior
• 
  St. Martin church in Grywałd from 16th/17th century
• 
  St. Dorothy Church in Trzcinica from end of 15th century
• 
  St Paraskeva Church in Kwiatoń from 17th century
• 
  Nawiedzenia Church in Iwkowa from 15th-17th centuries
• 
  St. Catherine Church in Gogołów from 1672
• 
  John the Baptist Church in Rzepiennik Biskupi from 16th century
• 
  St. Jacob Church in Powroźnik from 1604

See also

• Wooden churches in Ukraine
• Carpathian Wooden Churches
• Vernacular architecture of the Carpathians
• Wooden Churches of Maramureş
• St. George's Church, Drohobych
• Kryvka Church
• Wooden synagogues of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
• Zakopane Style architecture
• Lesser Poland

References

• UNESCO citation
• The Wooden Architecture Route in Małopolska
• Regional Uniate Church history

Oldest wooden Church at Czech Republic from 1177