Looking south-east towards altar of Polish village church restored after being ravaged by fire in 1994 arson attack. The rebuilt south nave of the Baroque wooden Church of the Holy Cross at Rdzawka in Nowy Targ county, southern Poland, founded 1757, now has modern pews and fittings, with salvaged pews and rescued artworks ranged along the north nave opposite.
Rdzawka, Nowy Targ county, southern Poland: inside the mid-1700s Late Baroque wooden Church of the Holy Cross, the south or right nave is now enhanced by a recent painting of St Christopher carrying the Christ Child across a river, amid other modern fittings and decoration that replaced older features destroyed in a devastating arson attack in 1994. The building was badly damaged when the arsonist set fire to its east and south sides. The fire spread quickly to the presbytery, roof and south nave, destroying them almost completely. The flames consumed many of the church’s original Baroque fittings; those that survived included two pieces of 18th century sculpture, a confessional and some pews and these are now ranged down the church’s north side. Holy Cross, built of logs in 1757, was founded by a rich merchant as a thanksgiving for his salvation from brigands who attacked him in thick woodland as he travelled to Hungary. The merchant, probably Jan Wielopolski, governor of Sandomierz, told how he fell to his knees as the brigands threatened him, raised his hands and cried “Holy Cross, Save Me!”. A shining cross then appeared in the sky and the outlaws either fled in terror or, as one legend claimed, were turned to stone. The church stands on the site of a late-1600s pilgrimage chapel in a place variously known as Chabówka, Obidowa or Piatkowa Mountain. Nearby, a holy well supplied water said to treat all diseases. The site lies beside the old carriage road to Zakopane, now a busy highway heading south from the city of Kraków to the Tatra Mountains and Poland’s border with Slovakia. Emigration cost Rdzawka most of its inhabitants in the mid-1800s, but their village church remains.
Size: 4256px × 2832px
Location: Rdzawka, Nowy Targ county, southern Poland.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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