Tower of St Nicholas' Church in Szczecinek

The tower of St Nicholas' Church in Szczecinek is a Gothic remnant of a church that was demolished in 1909. The walls of the lower parts survive, up to 2.5 m thick, and the tower itself is entered in the heritage register.

The church that disappeared

The tower may stand on the site of the first church built here around 1310. At the end of the 16th century the tower, partly destroyed, was raised with brick taken from the 14th-century Marientron monastery near Szczecinek, which was pulled down during the Reformation. By 1612 the tower and the church had been rebuilt. The tower was crowned with a Baroque helm roof, which was altered to a tented roof at the beginning of the 19th century. The church had a single nave and a very large, separate chancel. Its furnishings were modest, and some of them were moved to the new St Mary's Church. In 1909 the nave was demolished, leaving only the tower.

The tower as a museum

From 1913 adaptation work was carried out in the tower, and a year later a museum was opened in it. After the Second World War, thanks to the efforts of Aleksander Stafiński, the Szczecinek Land Museum was established here in 1958. In 2006 the exhibitions were moved to a new seat, namely the Regional Museum in Szczecinek.

Practical information

• Address: ul. Ks. Elżbiety 6, Szczecinek.
• The tower is an outdoor monument in the town centre. The Regional Museum gives information on whether the tower can be entered and whether it has a viewing point, so it is worth asking there before a visit.
• The tower stands on the site of the former churchyard, where a three-storey retail building, the Galeria Hosso, was built in September 2009.
• About 200 m away stands the Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity.