The medieval parish church in Szadek and its renaissance chapel

Abstract

The medieval parish church in Szadek, dedicated to the Holy Virgin Mary and St James the Apostle, is the town’s oldest historical monument and its most valuable relic of the past splendour. Restoration of its elevations has been in progress for several years. Renovation work has been completed on the walls of the presbytery and the northern elevation of the church with its annexes, i.e. sacristy, treasury and chapel under the invocation of Our Lady of the Rosary. The conservation and research work resulted in restoring the long-forgotten splendour of the church and in a number of important discoveries. It was found that in the first half of the 14th century a two-bay presbytery was built as well as a sacristy and an adjoining room intended for a treasury. In the next stage of construction work a three-aisle pseudo-basilica church was built, to be given a new form a hundred years later. The most spectacular discovery was identification of the original architectural design of the Renaissance chapel from the mid-16th century, dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary.