Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kołobrzeg

The Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kołobrzeg, popularly called the Little Church by the River, is a single-nave red-brick church in the Neo-Gothic style, standing at Katedralna 35 not far from the co-cathedral basilica. Since 1994 it has been a rectorial church connected with the House of Retired Priests and is directly subordinate to the Bishop of Koszalin-Kołobrzeg.

From a Benedictine convent to a garrison church

After the town was chartered in 1255 this was marshy ground, used as a dump. In 1545 the convent of Benedictine nuns was moved here. The convent church burned down together with the convent on 11 September 1630, was rebuilt in 1640 with funds from Duke Ernest Bogislaw de Croÿ, and was solemnly consecrated only on 11 September 1649. In 1653 it became a Lutheran garrison church. In 1832 it was rebuilt after the damage caused by the sieges of the town, first by the Russians and then by the French, and it survived the Second World War without damage. In 1675 Maciej Krockow-Krokowski was buried in it.

After 1945

From 1945 to 1994 it was the church of the Roman Catholic parish of St Martin, at first under the care of the Franciscans and from 1972 under diocesan clergy. In 1975 Cardinal Karol Wojtyła prayed in it during the celebrations of the 975th anniversary of the bishopric in Kołobrzeg. Bishop Edward Dajczak consecrated the church in 2017 and issued a decree confirming the establishment of the rectorate in 2019.

Architecture and interior

The church is crowned with a bell turret in which hangs the second-oldest bell in Kołobrzeg, cast in 1898. The furnishings are modest, Neo-Gothic, and the paintings were donated by the first postwar residents of the town. Around the church stand the Neo-Gothic buildings of the former Convent for Maidens, consecrated on 6 April 1886 and intended for 16 unmarried daughters of deserving fathers. Today the group of buildings serves as the House of Retired Priests. The site is entered in the heritage register.

Nearby

Within a short walk lie the town hall in Kołobrzeg and the Brunswick Palace.

Practical information

• Address: ulica Katedralna 35, Kołobrzeg.
• The church serves the retired priests of the diocese; check service times and the possibility of entering with the parish or the diocese.
• The buildings of the former convent are today the House of Retired Priests.