Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Piwniczna-Zdrój

The neo-Baroque parish church in Piwniczna-Zdrój belongs to the Piwniczna deanery of the Tarnów diocese. The present church was built in 1881-1886.

History

Construction lasted five years, and the Bishop of Tarnów, Ignacy Łobos, consecrated the church in 1889. In 1902 a new sacristy was added, and in 1909 a music choir on the south side.

Architecture

The church is built of brick and plastered. It has a three-aisled nave and a short chancel with a semicircular end, as high as the main nave, with two symmetrical sacristy annexes at the sides. On the west side rises a tower set into the body of the nave. Above the nave it is square in shape, with pilasters and a prominent cornice, and it is crowned with an octagonal blind lantern with a spire. The facade has modest divisions of pilasters and lesenes, and the interior is covered with sail vaults on transverse arches, with semicircular arcades. On the roof there is a small turret for a sanctus bell.

Nearby

About 700 metres from the church is the Regional Museum in Piwniczna-Zdrój, and a little under 200 metres further on lies the Jewish cemetery. Further up in the mountains are, among others, the Cyrla mountain hut and the waterfall on the Łomniczanka.

Practical information

• Location: Piwniczna-Zdrój, Nowy Sącz County.
• The parish provides service times and the possibility of seeing the interior outside Mass.