Church of St Nicholas in Dolice

The Church of St Nicholas in Dolice is a filial Orthodox church belonging to the parish of Sts Peter and Paul the Apostles in Stargard. The building was erected in 1896 as a Protestant church, on the site of a former half-timbered church. Since 1945 it has belonged to the Orthodox. It is the only village Orthodox church in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship.

History

The church served people resettled, among others, as part of Operation Vistula. In 1968 services in it ceased because of the small number of worshippers, and part of the furnishings went to the Orthodox churches in Stargard and Gryfice. The building was in poor condition, and in 2011 it was secured. Renovation covered the tower, roof, walls and joinery, and from 2015 also the interior. The general renovation was completed in 2017, and on 22 October that year the church was consecrated by the Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland and the Archbishop of Wrocław and Szczecin. A plaque commemorating the 70th anniversary of Operation Vistula was unveiled then. In 2021 the church received a bell.

Architecture

The building is of brick, neo-Gothic, a single-nave hall on a rectangular plan. On the north side it has a five-sided apse with buttresses, and on the south side a square tower crowned with a tall spire. The tower is decorated with circular recesses and pointed-arch windows, with pinnacles at its sides. The church was entered in the heritage register in 1991 (no. A-1178).

Practical information

• The church stands in Dolice (Dobrzany municipality, Stargard County), ul. Dolice 12.
• Arrange services and the possibility of going inside with the parish in Stargard, because the church is filial.
• In the area there are lakes, among them Lake Okunie.