ST. MARTIN’S CHURCH

The Catholic church in Rakoniewice was built in the years 1797-1805 by Ewa Zakrzewska, widow of the castellan of Santok and owner of Rakoniewice. Saint Martin has been the patron of the church in Rakoniewice since its erection. Later, another dedication was added - of Saint Stanislaus the bishop.

In the years 1914-1915, the church was completely rebuilt and extended by Roger Sławski, a well-known architect from Greater Poland, who collaborated on the task with Stanisław Wojciechowski, a builder from Rakoniewice. A chancel, two vestries and a transept with two altars were added. The vestry on the north side was converted into a box where the founders of the extension of the church were sitting.

After the extension, the church lost its historical values. The church is oriented east, it is built in a pseudo-Baroque style, has one central nave and a transept. The tower was lowered to the ridge of the roof; the two-storey façade of the church is decorated with Ionic columns (pseudo-Baroque style), which slightly reminds the Church of the Nuns of the Visitation in Warsaw. The impression of pulsating of the façade is enhanced by oriented (broken) cornices. We must remember that when Poland was under foreign rule in the 19^th century, the Baroque style was equated with Polish architecture, kind of in contrast to neo-Romanesque or neo-Gothic architecture, which was preferred by the Prussians.

The founder of the extension of the church was count Marceli Czarnecki (the last owner of Rakoniewice in the years 1899-1938). The rebuilt and extended Church of St. Martin was consecrated in 1924 when it received a second patron - Saint Stanislaus the bishop.

In 1939 the church was closed and converted into a military storehouse. As soon as Rakoniewice was liberated from the Nazi occupation on 25^th January 1945, the church reopened. The first masses in the recovered church were held by the Rev. Jan Pietrzak.

In 1957 the church was electrified (electricity was installed under the supervision of Józef Mania, son of Marceli Mania, who was the organist in the church for many years).

Since 2005 the church has been illuminated (on the initiative of the Mayor of Rakoniewice).

Interior of the church

The high altar is made of multicolour Italian marble. The oil painting The Resurrection of Piotrowin in the altar is a copy of the painting of Szymon Czechowicz from the Parish Church in Poznań. The copy was commissioned by count Marceli Czarnecki and made by the painter Franciszek Zygart from Poznań in around 1915.

To the right of the painting The Resurrection of Piotrowin, the vault of the chancel is decorated with a fresco showing the murder of St. Stanislaus the bishop. This and the remaining paintings decorating the vault of the church were made in the 1950s by the brothers Teodor and Stanisław Szukała from Opalenica, who specialized in sacral painting.

On the left side of the chancel, next to the founders' box, there is an oil painting showing St. Martin - the patron of the church. It was painted in 1861 by Stanisław Edward Czarników, an author of religious paintings and a conservator from Poznań. Above the painting, part of the vault of the chancel is decorated by a fresco showing Saint Martin on a white horse.

In the box, which is on the left side of the high altar, there are coats of arms of gentry families whose members entered into marriage with the Czarnecki family.

On both sides of the transept, there are side altars decorated with paintings showing Mother of God of Częstochowa - the Queen of Poland, and St. Anne. The interior of the church is decorated with beautiful Stations of the Cross in a marble framing designed by the Poznań based architect A. Ballenstaedt.

Other valuable objects in the church include a crucifix from the 18^th century, a folk sculpture of Resurrected Jesus (painted in 1860) and tin candlesticks (six from mid-18^th century, sixteen from the years 1841-1842 and two from 1854).