History

The parish in Biesiadki was probably established in the second half of the 12th century by Kraków bishops. It is first referenced in the sources in 1325. In 1585 Bishop of Kraków Piotr Myszkowski dissolved the parish and merged it with the Porąbka Uszewska parish. The parish in Biesiadki was re-established Bishop of Tarnów Józef Grzegorz Wojtarowicz no earlier than in 1840. The original church was probably built in 1199. This date was inscribed on a board formerly hanging above the side entrance of the church. The current one was built in 1661 using the building material from the previous temple destroyed by Transylvanias in 1657. The temple was completely renovated in 1876 and its interior in 1881. It was enlarged in 1936 by extending the nave and adding a chapel. The tower was also relocated and raised by one level. Another renovation of the building was carried out between 1971 and 1975.

Description

The church stands on a small hill in the central part of the village. It is a Baroque structure. The church is an oriented, three-nave building with a chancel closed on three sides. To the north of it, there is a sacristy. By the nave from the north, there is a chapel closed on three sides; from the south, there is a small porch and from the west a square tower with a vestibule in the ground floor. It has slightly sloping walls divided by cornices into three levels, the highest of which, of 1936, is covered by a cupola with a lantern. The tower walls have recesses with folk sculptures of saints. The roofs of the temple are gabled with a shared ridge and a Baroque-like ave bell spirelet. The chapel is domed. The church is a wooden log structure and a pole and frame tower. The façades are boarded, the roofs are shingled. Inside, the chancel and the central nave are covered with a corbel barrel vault; the aisles separated by columns have flat ceiling sections. A multi-panel corbel vault in the chapel. The rood beam arch is closed in a semicircle; the beam has a crucifix and the figurines of Madonna and St John the Evangelist (Gothic from the 16th century). In the south entrance, there is a Gothic, pointed-arch portal moved from the previous church; it has a door with old fittings. The interior polychrome is figurative and ornamental; painted by Tadeusz Terlecki in 1938. The interior features: the Baroque main altar from around the middle 17th century, with a carved, late Gothic Pieta from the first half of the 16th century; side altars: no. 1 and 2 late Baroque from the 18th and 19th centuries; no. 3 is newer; they boast the Baroque paintings of St Rosalia from 1676, the Virgin Mary in mandorla from the 17th century; the Virgin Mary with Saints Anna and Joachim from the 17th century, St Anthony from the 17th century; a wooden baptismal from the first half of the 19th century; the Way of the Cross painted by Maria Ritter in 1971; 12-stop organs of 1962 made by the Biernacki company. There are four bells in the tower: one from 1631 with the inscription, “GLORIA IN ALTISSIMIS DEO FVSA ANNO 1631;” the other three were made in 1954 in the Felczyński bell foundry in Przemyśl.

The site is accessible from outside; inside only during services.

Author of the note Olga Dyba, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Kraków 3-02-2016

Bibliography

• Chrzanowski T., Kornecki M., Sztuka Ziemi Krakowskiej. Kraków 1982.
• Kornecki M., Kościoły diecezji tarnowskiej. “Rocznik Diecezji Tarnowskiej na rok 1972”. Tarnów 1972.
• Kornecki M., Kościoły drewniane w Małopolsce. Kraków 1999
• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce. Vol. I, Województwo krakowskie, no. 3, Powiat brzeski, Warszawa 1953.
• Krupiński A., Zabytki urbanistyki i architektury województwa tarnowskiego. Kraków 1989.
• Rzepa J, Kornecki M., Dzwony Diecezji Tarnowskiej. Kraków 2001.
• Magdoń J., Biesiadki dawniej i dziś. Ropczyce 2001.