Architectural examinations of the parish church in Dobrzyki

Ewa Łużyniecka

Abstract

The church in Dobrzyki is a structure which reflects the history of the terrain on which it was built. The idea of its construction should be connected with the times of the village location in about 1304. However, it is difficult to define unambiguously when building of the chancel started. Its simple forms may indicate that it might have started soon after the village had been settled. Analogously arranged chancels also appear in four earlier village churches in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodship (Fig. 6). The church in Grutta has no tower and it has a two-bay chancel closed straight and dates from the years 1290–1295. The church chancel in Papów is also closed straight and dates from the years 1295–1298. It is thought that the church chancel in Niedźwiedź and the church in Grzywno were built some time later, i.e. at the turn of the 14th century.

Therefore, the chancel might have been built at the beginning of the 14th century. We can also assume that the break between building the chancel and the nave was not long. The eastern part was erected while designing the western part. Approximately, the time of building the nave dates from the first half of the 14th century. Perhaps, it will possible to specify this date more accurately in the future by using absolute dating methods, e.g. by means of a still improved method of dating mortar by a C14 carbon dating method.

An interesting technological feature is worth noticing as well. The Vedic arrangement of bricks, which in particular often appears in southern Poland, is considered to be earlier than the gothic one. In the case of the church in Dobrzyki both techniques of placing the building material were used at the same time. The top, which separates the nave attics from the chancel, constitutes the proof of this. The eastern face of the top was built of bricks with the gothic arrangement, while the western front – with the Vedic arrangement (Fig. 7).

During the architectural research in 2010 it was possible to reconstruct partially the stages of building the church. However, we still do not know the original appearance of the western part of the church and whether there was a brick tower at that time. The question whether the sacristy had one floor and if there were stairs inside is still waiting for an answer. We do not know the original colour of the interior and recently discovered polychromy may indicate the existence of preserved painting.

All these issues can be addressed during future exploration and research to be carried out, for example, along with future reconstruction works and maintenance of the church.

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