Description of the attraction
The Church of St. Michael the Archangel in Gniezno was built in 1524 on the site of the burned down wooden church by Jan and Elzhbeta Shemetovich. 2012 marked the 488th anniversary of the temple. Once upon a time on the site where the church was built there was an ancient pagan temple. Sacrificial stones were found during restoration work in the 19th century.
The Reformation did not bypass the church. From 1555 to 1643, the temple was a Calvinist cathedral. In 1643 he returned to the fold of the Catholic Church.
The church was built with a large margin of safety. Its thick walls could withstand the siege of enemies. The temple was used as a defensive structure in all wars, as evidenced by the cannonball embedded in the brickwork.
In 1838, a fire broke out in the church. Everything that could burn - burned out. In 1844 G. Tarasevich donated a considerable sum for its restoration. In 1926, the temple was reconstructed and a tower was added. In 1930-1932, restoration work was carried out according to the project of the architect T. Plyutsinsky.
In the USSR, a special committee was created, which was entrusted with the study of the history of the temple and its restoration. In the late 1980s, the temple was abandoned. In 1989 the church was returned to the believers, however, during the period when it was empty, the church managed to decay noticeably. Its restoration was undertaken by the Catholic priest Ludwik, who took over the temple on behalf of the Catholic Church. During this time, a lot of work has been done to restore and popularize the temple as a tourist site.
On the territory of the church, an ancient fence, a gate, a chapel and a cemetery have been preserved. There are sculptures in the church that date back to the 17th-18th centuries.
