St Luke the Evangelist's Church in Lipnica Wielka

The brick St Luke the Evangelist's Church in Lipnica Wielka in Orawa was built in the Baroque style between 1762 and 1770. It was consecrated on 7 April 1769 and is now a parish church listed in the heritage register.

Construction of the church

Construction was begun by Father Wojciech Zubrzycki of Zubrzyca Górna, who became parish priest in Lipnica in 1762. The older wooden church was dismantled and moved to nearby Chyżne. The parish stresses the late Baroque style characteristic of Upper Hungary.

Form and interior

The church has a single nave of three bays with a barrel vault, a narrower chancel closed in a semicircle, and a semicircular chancel arch. A square tower rises at the front, raised and given a bulbous dome in 1798. In the second half of the 19th century a chapel was added to the nave, called by locals the Tomb of Our Lady (Gróbek Matki Bożej), today the Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows. Inside there is an extensive music choir with side galleries on wooden columns.

The present furnishings are Neo-Baroque and date from around 1915, made in a workshop from South Tyrol. The earlier 18th-century polychrome was discovered during renovations in the interwar period, and the paintings were restored in 1980 to 1981.

Nearby

It is about 8 km from here to the Orawa Ethnographic Park in Zubrzyca Górna, and the church in Orawka also lies on the sacred architecture trail.

Practical information

• Address: Lipnica Wielka 583, 34-483 Lipnica Wielka (address from parish data).
• The church is in use. Verified sources give no visiting hours for the interior, so ask the parish (parafia-lipnicawielka.pl).