Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Star of the Sea in Świnoujście

The Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Star of the Sea in Świnoujście is a historic Neo-Gothic parish church from 1895-1896, located on the island of Uznam (Usedom). It was built of brick as the first Catholic church in the area, mainly with the numerous Polish seasonal workers in mind who worked here at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

A parish from 1896

The church was consecrated on 22 July 1896, and the parish was established on 31 August of the same year. Parish registers were started at once. The church is entered in the heritage register.

A body with a mosaic above the portal

The building stands on a rectangular plan with a separate square chancel. The three-storey tower, with blind arcading, is merged into the body of the church and topped with two gables and a spire. The spire was destroyed by a storm in 1967 and rebuilt in 2010. The roof is a gable one, and the gables are stepped, profiled and decorated with blind arcading.

The entrance portal in the gablet is decorated with an impressive mosaic showing the Mother of God with the Child in a boat on a rough sea, with the inscription Ave Maris Stella, that is "Hail, Star of the Sea". The walls of the church have large pointed-arch windows with stained glass.

Inside

The interior is vaulted. In the chancel, under a large stained-glass window, stands a light wooden altar with a tabernacle adored by figures of angels. On the left is a pulpit with a canopy, decorated with images of the Four Evangelists, and beside it a figure of Our Lady of Fatima. In the side altar hang pictures of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

In the rear part of the church is a chapel of seafarers with a 19th-century stained-glass window showing the Mother of God with the Child. The furnishings also include a stone font with a wooden cover, Neo-Gothic sculptures on the pilasters, and a choir gallery with an eight-stop organ from 1903. The Stations of the Cross are painted on sheet metal.

Nearby

Nearby stands the Church of Christ the King.

Only four hundred metres further on stands the tower of the Martin Luther church.

It is about three hundred metres from the church to the Sea Fishing Museum.

Not far away is also the Spa Park.

Practical information

• Address: Piastowska Street, Świnoujście (Uznam Island).
• Opening hours of the church outside services are given by the parish. Check them before your visit.