
38 Ewa Maria Netczuk-Pol, Łukasz Karol Netczuk
signicance. Ultimately, Kostomłoty permanently lost its town
status in 1875 (Oszczanowska, Sebzda and Trenkler 2010).
State of research
History of the church
The Gothic parish church of the Exaltation of the Holy
Cross, later expanded in Renaissance and Neo-Gothic forms,
together with the adjoining cemetery, constitutes a signi-
cant architectural and landscape landmark of Kostomłoty.
The church is rst mentioned in a document issued by Pope
Innocent III on August 12, 1201, as ecclesia St. Godardi in
Costomlot (Oszczanowska 2017). It most likely existed ear-
lier,
although there is no direct evidence to conrm this.
The currently preserved structure is predominantly Go-
thic in the core of both the nave and the chancel – it was
erected in the mid-14
th
century. The church was renovated in
the mid-16
th
century and expanded between 1582 and 1585
with the addition of a Renaissance-style southern porch.
During the Baroque period, the tower was topped with a sty-
listic helmet-shaped dome, visible in engravings by Fried-
rich Bernhard Werner from the mid-17
th
century (Fig. 1).
The church retained this form until 1815, when the old tow-
er was dismantled. Subsequently, between 1818 and 1819,
a new tower was constructed on the foundations of the old
one, along with staircase annexes, based on a design by Karl
Friedrich Schinkel. Executed in the spirit of Neo-Gothic, the
design created a distinctive westwerk. The project included
the western façade and was realised almost in its entirety
(Oszczanowska 2017).
In the 19
th
and 20
th
centuries, the church underwent nu-
me rous renovations. In 1861, the organ gallery became the
focus of reconstruction eorts, and in 1867, restoration
work was carried out on the tower and the choir loft. In
1879, a previously unrealised design for remodelling the
organ gallery was implemented. In 1880, a design for the
reconstruction and extension of the second storey (a gallery)
of the sacristy was prepared, followed in 1881 by a proj-
ect for a baptismal chapel on the south side of the chancel
and the extension of the eastern choir. Both projects were
realised, as conrmed by plans from 1894. In 1892, an un-
executed expansion design for the church was drawn up
and signed by Willert, the Royal District Building Inspec-
tor from Leśnica. By 1909, the reconstruction of the tower
based on Schinkel’s design had certainly been completed,
including the installation of a cross-bearing ball and likely
some of the architectural decoration. According to research-
ers (and in our opinion), this reconstruction took place in
1909, as evidenced by commemorative photographs of the
church’s façade and interior from that year (Fig. 2). After
1945, regular maintenance work was carried out, namely,
in 1959–1960 the roof covering was replaced, in 1970 the
tower was renovated, and in 1997 the façade was restored.
In 2003, conservation work was undertaken on interior fur-
nishings and decorative elements (Oszczanowska, Sebzda
and Trenkler 2010; Oszczanowska 2017). The most recent
renovation took place in 2024 and was related to the resto-
ration of the church façades (Fig. 3).
The dating of the various stages of the expansion of the
church in Kostomłoty, prepared by Bożena Danielska in
1998 and presented in the Leksykon zabytków architektury
Dolnego Śląska [Lexicon of Architectural Monuments of
Lower Silesia] (Pilch 2005), does not fully align with the
preserved iconographic material. The 19
th
-century Neo-
Gothic chapel is clearly identied in it as a structure from
the 15
th
century, while the remnants of the tower in the
western mass, visible in Werner’s mid-18
th
-century engrav-
ing, are considered – along with the added stairwell annexes
– to be part of a 19
th
-century reconstruction (Fig. 4).
Fig. 1. The oldest representation of the church in Kostomłoty
in a graphic by Friedrich Bernhard Werner (source: Werner 1751–1800)
Il. 1. Najstarsze przedstawienie kościoła w Kostomłotach
na grafice Friedricha Bernharda Wernera (źródło: Werner 1751–1800)
Fig. 2. Western elevation of the church in Kostomłoty
from the square in front of the cemetery gate, 1909
(source: private collection, made available thanks to the kindness
of the parish priest, Rafał Kupczak PhD)
Il. 2. Elewacja zachodnia kościoła w Kostomłotach
z placu przed bramą cmentarną, 1909
(źródło: kolekcja prywatna, udostępnione dzięki życzliwości
proboszcza parafii ks. dra Rafała Kupczaka)