All Saints Church Krościenko nad Dunajcem
Rynek, 34-450 Krościenko nad Dunajcem
Tourist region: Pieniny i Spisz
The main altarpiece dates from the 18th century. An earlier image of the Virgin Mary, dating from the 16th century, was – according to a legend recorded in the parish chronicle – brought to the church by the waves of the Dunajec River, and by the early 1900s had been destroyed by time. Today, the altar contains an 18th century image of Our Lady of the Rosary – a former feretory with a carved cloth. It’s flanked by a Rococo tabernacle with undulating lines and figures of the apostles Peter and Paul.
On the north wall of the church, you can see fragments of an extremely valuable 14th-century polychrome depicting scenes from the life of Saint Barbara. Another piece of polychrome, at the main altar, dates to 1490 and depicts the Crucifixion. The scene of the entry into Jerusalem, whose walls resemble the fortifications of Kraków, is particularly suggestive. The walls of the main nave, in turn, depict other scenes (there are 24 of them) ranging from the Annunciation to the Assumption. Interestingly, these scenes aren’t only those from the life of Christ, or apocalyptic visions of the Last Judgement, but also ones that reflected the real problems of the local community. This is the ‘biblia pauperum’, or picture bible, for the illiterate parishioners of the time. The author of the paintings, most of which were created in 1589, is Jakub Korab from Nowy Targ. The moustached face in the bottom row, which isn’t linked to the depicted scenes, is probably a self-portrait of the painter.
The 15th-century stone, polychrome-covered baptismal font, donated by King Jan Olbracht in 1493, features the Jagiellonian eagle. Adjacent to the emblem of the Polish state are the coats of arms of the Bishop of Kraków and several knights’ coats of arms.
Also worthy of note are the Baroque Stations of the Cross painted on boards; they come from the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. The stained-glass windows were made between 1964 and 1966 to celebrate the millennium of the Baptism of Poland. There are six of them, all designed by the conservationist Edward Kwiatkowski. The church is surrounded by old trees, monuments of nature.