Church of Our Lady of Częstochowa in Czachów

The church in Czachów, a village in Cedynia municipality, is a stone building from the second half of the 13th century. Inside, a set of wall paintings from the 14th century has survived.

A stone hall with an apse

The church was built of hewn stone blocks as a hall building on a rectangular plan measuring 12.25 by 8.6 metres, without a separate chancel. On the east it is closed by a large apse, added in the 16th century. The oldest source mention of the parish priest dates from 1335. In the 19th century a four-sided wooden tower with a pyramidal roof was added on the west. In the south wall two original, bricked-up portals can be seen, and the present west portal, neo-Romanesque, is later.

Paintings with devils and a chessboard

In the body and the apse a rich set of 14th-century paintings has survived, discovered by the conservator Stefan Wójcik. They show human figures, devils, knights, eagles and a chessboard of 64 squares. The paintings do not form a coherent story, and their symbolic meaning is unclear. The interior is covered with a wooden ceiling, and above the entrance stands a wooden choir gallery with an organ.

Practical information

• Address: Czachów 30A, Cedynia municipality, Gryfino County.
• The monument was entered in the register in 1956. After the war it was reconsecrated as a Catholic church, on 2 June 1946.
• If you want to see the paintings, check beforehand with the parish when the church is open. About five kilometres from here, in Cedynia, stands the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.