Churches of Peace
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Churches of Peace in Jawor and Swidnica* | |
|---|---|
| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
| Image:Swidnica - Kosciol Pokoju 1.jpg Świdnica/Schweidnitz | |
| State Party | Image:Flag of Poland.svg Poland |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | iii, iv, vi |
| Reference | 1054 |
| Region† | Europe and North America |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 2001 (25th Session) |
| * Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. † Region as classified by UNESCO. | |
The Churches of Peace (German: Friedenskirche) in Silesia were named after the Peace of Westphalia of 1648 which permitted the Lutherans in the Roman Catholic parts of the Holy Roman Empire to build Evangelical churches, to be built outside the city walls and made of wood with no nails.
Since 2001, the two remaining large ones are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Constrained by the physical and political conditions, three of the churches anyway became the timber-framed religious buildings in Europe. With pioneering constructional and architectural solutions unknown ever before or since in wooden architecture, and surviving for over 300 years, they bear testimony to the quest for religious freedom and are a rare expression of Lutheran ideology in an idiom generally associated with the Roman Catholic Church in the Austrian Empire of the Habsburgs.
The church in Jauer (Jawor), under the invocation of the Holy Ghost, sized 43,5 m long, 14 m wide and 15,7 m high, seating 5,500, was constructed by Breslau (Wroclaw) architect Albrecht von Saebisch (1610–1688) and was finished in 1655 after a year. The 200 paintings inside by were done by Georg Flegel in 1671–1681. The Altar, by Martin Schneider, is of 1672, the original organ of J. Hoferichter from Liegnitz of 1664 was replaced 1855–1856 by Adolf Alexander Lummert.
By that time, the town was already for about 100 years part of the Lutheran Kingdom of Prussia. Another 100 years later, in 1945, they became part of the communist People's Republic of Poland, following Flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland during and after World War II.
The similar church, erected in Glogau (Głogów) had burned in 1758, but the one of Schweidnitz (Świdnica), under the invocation of the Holy Trinity, survived like the one in Jauer. Both were restored by a Polish-German cooperation, and added by UNESCO in 2001.
[edit] External links
World Heritage Sites in Poland | |
|---|---|
Auschwitz Birkenau. German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940-1945) · Białowieża Forest / Belovezhskaya Pushcha (with Belarus) · Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork · Centennial Hall, Wrocław · Churches of Peace in Jawor and Świdnica · Kraków - Stare Miasto / Cracow's Historic Centre · Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Architectural and Park Landscape Complex and Pilgrimage Park · Park Muzakowski / Muskauer Park (with Germany) · Medieval Town of Toruń · Historic Centre of Warsaw · Wieliczka Salt Mine · Wooden Churches of Southern Little Poland · Old City of Zamość | |
de:Friedenskirche (Jauer) de:Friedenskirche (Schweidnitz) fr:Église de la Paix (Jawor) he:כנסיות השלום it:Chiese della Pace lv:Miera baznīcas ja:ヤヴォルとシフィドニツァの平和教会群 no:Fredskirkene i Jawor og Świdnica pl:Kościoły pokoju sv:Fredskyrkorna i Jawor och Świdnica
