Norway Foots Bill to Restore Europe's Largest Wooden Church in Poland
Restoration work for Europe's largest wooden church was completed in time for this year's 500th anniversary of the Reformation movement. The Lutheran Church of Peace in Swidnica, Poland was rehabilitated for €4.1 million ($4.4 million), which was financed by Norway.
Church bells rang on Friday, April 21, to mark the completion of the three-year work. Built in the mid-17th century, the 7,500-capacity church is considered as the largest timber-framed religious building in Europe. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared the church a World Heritage Site in 2001.
"It's a great day for our church and for the entire little protestant community in Swidnica which wouldn't have been able to finance the work by itself," said Bozena Pytel, coordinator for the work.
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The restoration involved restoring the organ, pulpit and altar "of what is an exceptional example of Baroque art," Pytel added.
In 1517, Martin Luther published his 95 theses or complaints against the Catholic Church, which launched the Protestant Reformation. This religious revolution divided the Western church and created a Protestant branch of Christianity that rebelled against papal rule.
The construction of the building, along with two other Protestant churches, was allowed in Catholic areas after the 1648 Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War between Catholics and Protestants. The builders were required to implement pioneering constructional and wooden architectural solutions of a scale and complexity unknown that time.
Early this year, Poland's Senate voted on a resolution to honor the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation and praised the contribution that Protestants have made to the "religious, cultural, social and economic face of our country." The measure passed despite the objections raised by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party.
One Member of Parliament argued that Protestantism "has little in common with Christianity." Another said it was wrong to "honor the schism in the Church."
The resolution was passed despite most of the 64 PiS senators voting against it (23), abstaining (14) or not voting (8).
