Peace Church in Świdnica

The Church of Peace in Świdnica is the largest timber-framed Baroque church in Europe, and it exists because of a compromise at the end of the Thirty Years' War. Under the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the Catholic Emperor Ferdinand III agreed, under pressure from Protestant Sweden, to let the Lutherans of his Silesian principalities build three churches, at Głogów, Jawor and Świdnica. The permission came with conditions deliberately designed to make building hard and to make the result short-lived, which is why the church is built of wood and clay rather than stone. It has lasted more than 360 years.

The foundation stone was laid on 23 August 1656 and the first service held on 24 June 1657, after only ten months of work. The Wrocław master builder Albrecht von Saebisch designed it, and the local carpenter Andreas Kaemper built it: a timber frame filled with clay and straw, on a Greek-cross plan, about 44 metres long and 30 metres wide. Because it was one of only two Protestant churches allowed in the whole principality, it had to hold enormous congregations; with four tiers of galleries it could take 7,500 people, 3,000 of them seated. It has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2001, together with the Church of Peace at Jawor.

Inside, the plain exterior gives way to a riot of painted and carved wood. The galleries are covered with 78 biblical verses and 47 allegorical paintings, and the ceilings, painted in 1694–1696, show scenes from the Book of Revelation, from the heavenly Jerusalem to the Last Judgment. The pulpit of 1729 and the high altar, completed in 1753, are both by Gottfried August Hoffmann. The organ case dates from 1666–1669, and noble families had their own boxes, of which the richly decorated Hochberg box of 1698, above the main entrance, is the grandest. The bell tower and school next to the church were allowed only in 1708.

A building born of religious conflict has since become a place for reconciliation. In 1989 the Polish prime minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki and the German chancellor Helmut Kohl prayed here together, and in 2016 representatives of several faiths, including the Dalai Lama, signed an appeal for peace in the church. It is still used by the Lutheran parish.

Getting there

The church is in central Świdnica, about a 15-minute walk from Świdnica Miasto railway station; trains from Wrocław Główny take roughly 1.5 to 2 hours, and direct services are few, so check the timetable. Copernicus Wrocław Airport (WRO) is about 40 km away.