It is a three-nave temple with galleries located above the naves, with a chancel, transept and choir gallery, lavish Baroque and Classicist decor, fixtures and fittings of the interior. The façade, with two diagonally arranged towers, niches containing figures of the saints and a decorative framing of the church entrance, is an external embellishment of this architectural pearl.

History

The earliest mention of the Jasieniec parish dates back to 1208. Most probably a wooden church, funded by the knights’ family of Jasieńczyk, already existed in the village. The archival documents from the 15th century mention the certificates of donation as well as patronages of local families over the church and the parish. There is mention of a larch temple in the village in the protocol of Bishop Wawrzyniec Gorlicki, prepared after the visitation of the Pentecost parish church in 1603. At that time around 30 villages belonged to this territorially large parish.

The currently existing brick church was erected in the years 1747-1754 and was funded by the Castellan of Ciechanów, General Władysław Grzegorzewski, according to the design of Jakub Fontana. Most probably, a provincial constructor put the design into reality. The feature has survived virtually in an unchanged condition. Only slight modifications, including of the portal and the choir gallery, were introduced in the early 19th century. Major renovation works of the temple took place in 1849, 1857, 1903, 1917, 1968 and 1988. The brick church fencing was built in the 19th century, while the presbytery was erected in 1933.

Description

The church is located in the eastern part of the village, on the north side of the road leading from Grójec to Warka (at a distance from the road), in the area of a former church graveyard with surviving tombstones. It is circumscribed by a metal and brick fence. Trees grow on the church plot on the east and west side.

The temple was built of bricks and the walls are plastered on both sides. The floors are made of ceramic tiles. The windows and doors are made of wood. The roof truss is wooden and has a rafter-and-queen post structure. The roof is covered with galvanised sheet metal.

The building was erected on a rectangular floor plan, with a rectangular sacristy added from the west and two rectangular towers added to the front façade. The body is cuboidal, tall and covered with a gable roof. The towers are topped with cupolas, while the chapels that frame the main nave are covered with shed roofs. The main nave has the same width as the chancel (terminating in an apse on the basket-handle arch floor plan). The chapels are half as wide as the main nave. The front façade has two storeys, three axes and a centrally located entrance in the main body, flanked by two towers. The first storey has a framed entrance with a tympanum and two pairs of pilasters with Doric capitals. A large window is located on the second storey of the façade, next to which there are two pairs of niches with figures of the saints and, behind them, two pairs of columns with Ionic capitals. The front façade gable with volutes and a small round window is crowned with a crucifix. The side façades are four-axial, asymmetrical; the north façade has no axial partitions. All façades are partitioned with lesenes.

Interior fixtures and fittings of the temple are sumptuous and follow the principles of the Baroque style. The main altar is made of black marble with a stuccowork finial in the form of a glory; it includes in its central part a painting of the Pentecost from the 18th century, flanked by two figures of patrons of Poland, contrasting with their whiteness: St Stanislaus of Szczepanów and St Adalbert. Niches of the arcades in the side naves are delimited by shallow chapels with four altars, in the retables of which the images of Christ Crucified, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the Holy Family and the parish patron, St Roch are located.

Among the fixtures and fittings, we can also distinguish a Baroque pulpit merged with the pillar and cornice structure, with a figure of Michael the Archangel as well as a Late-Gothic crucifix.

The building is accessible to visitors during masses and following previous arrangements with the parish priest.

Compiled by Jerzy Szałygin, National Institute of Cultural Heritage, Regional Branch in Warsaw  02-08-2017

Bibliography

• Bartczakowa A., Jakub Fontana architekt warszawski XVIII w., Warsaw 1971.
• History of the church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, after: http://skarbiecmazowiecki.pl/obiekty/kosciol-pw-wniebowziecia-nmp-grojecki-jasieniec-warecka-37-12,1.html
• Record sheet of monuments of architecture Kościół parafialny p.w. Wniebowzięcia NMP, prepared by Jacek Studziński, Radom, 1990.
• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, vol. X, issue 3, Warsaw 1961.