Nestled among the foothills of the Pieniny and Gorce mountains, Debno Parish Church is an exceptional example of the wooden Gothic churches of southern Poland. Archival information on the early history of the first wooden church, built in the early fourteenth century, is scarce. (...)
Nestled among the foothills of the Pieniny and Gorce mountains, Debno Parish Church is an exceptional example of the wooden Gothic churches of southern Poland. Archival information on the early history of the first wooden church, built in the early fourteenth century, is scarce. The present building was constructed in the late fifteenth century, although it does retain some of the original furnishings, including a crucifix from 1380. (An older artifact, a thirteenth-century Romanesque panel painting, has since been moved to a museum in Kraków.) Inside the historic sanctuary, fifteenth-century stencil-patterned paintings decorate the walls and ceiling. The diverse and intricate composition, depicting anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures, reflects influences from contemporary Polish court art. Over 77 different patterns have been recorded, ranging from simple motifs to highly complex designs. After Debno lost its parish status in 1630, the sanctuary became an affiliate church of a nearby village, and, by the eighteenth century, only held mass on every third Sunday. Despite its decline in recent centuries, the church has been in continuous use since its construction.
