Church of St John the Baptist in Żabów

The Church of St John the Baptist in Żabów in Pyrzyce municipality was built in 1569 in the late Gothic style. The heritage register dates it to the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. It was consecrated as a Catholic church on 20 September 1945.

The building

The church was built of stone on a rectangular plan. In 1899 it was thoroughly rebuilt: the nave was extended by one bay to the east, a sacristy was added on the north, and the windows were re-walled with pointed arches of brick. The new east gable of brick was decorated with blind arcades and pinnacles. On the west a brick tower was added, with a bell funded by the then owner of the Żabów estate, Zofia Tummeley. The ground floor of the tower has a stepped portal, and its gable is decorated with blind arcades.

Interior

The ceiling is wooden and beamed. The original Baroque pulpit altar from 1720 was moved to a side wall. On the east wall hangs an 18th-century painting of the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. In 2013 it was discovered that its author was Petr Brandl, a Baroque painter known as the Czech Rubens. An 18th-century candelabrum has also survived, along with a stone armorial slab of the former owner of Żabów with the inscription Bartram Plotze 1569. The pews and choir gallery date from the 19th century. The former 17th-century patron's stalls were moved in 1989 to St James' Cathedral Basilica in Szczecin.

Nearby

In the neighbourhood lie the church in Ryszewko and the church in Nieborowo. It is about six kilometres from here to Pyrzyce.

Practical information

• Address: Żabów 83, Pyrzyce municipality.
• Check service times and the possibility of entering the interior with the parish.