The Roman Catholic Church of Saints Andrew Zorard and Benedict — Tropie
Tropie 6, 33-316 Tropie
Tourist region: Pogórza
tel. +48 605623291
On a hill towering above Czchowskie Lake stands the small Romanesque Church of Saints Zorard and Benedict. Tradition has it that it was built on the site of the hermitage of the Benedictine monk Saint Zorard, who lived at the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries. In 1535 it was Saint Gerald's Church, from 1556 to 1603 it was a Calvinist monastery, and in the rest of the 17th century it was used by the Polish Brethren. The church originally had a single nave with a straight enclosed chancel. The walls of the chancel and the remains of the nave walls have survived to this day. In the 13th century, a sacristy now used as a storage room was added. In the 16th century, the walls of the chancel were extended and the chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary was added but was later turned into a sacristy. In the 17th century a porch and a cloister were added and the nave was extended to the west. The two-story façade of the church is simple, with an arched entrance portal. The roof is covered with sheet metal and topped with a little bell tower. In the interior one can see a polychrome ceiling from the 17th century, a copy of a painting by Giorgio Vasari from Florence repainted in the 19th century, fragments of a Romanesque painting from the 12th century, and painted Romanesque and Gothic crucifixes. The remains of the original building include the arcade of the rainbow arch supported by a cornice ,the remains of the western portal, and a choir above the entrance. The reliquaries of Saint Mother Teresa of Kolkata, Saint Zorard, and the Holy Cross are kept in the church.