History
The church of St. Mary Magdalene and St. Nicholas in Dziekanowice, was erected around the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries. It is possible that its founder was Kazimierz the Righteous. The church from Dziekanowice was first recorded in documents in 1270, and in 1325 the local parish was confirmed in sources. In 1645, a new nave was added to the church, and then a sacristy, as a result of which the medieval building became a chancel embedded in the new church. Subsequent transformations of the building took place in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Architecture
The Romanesque church was built of sandstone ashlar, which were carefully processed with perpendicular or diagonal cuts, and also marked with stonework mason markers, showing combinations of arrows, zigzags, crosses and semicircles. Originally, the church consisted of a small rectangular nave with interior dimensions of about 5.1 x 7 meters and a narrower, tiny, almost square chancel measuring 2.5 x 2.9 meters. Both parts were separated by a arcade with an impost cornice. The lighting of the church was originally provided by narrow, small windows, of which the eastern one in the chancel was distinguished by an internal, frefoil frame. The interior of the chancel was covered with a vault based on consoles, and the nave was covered with a wooden ceiling.
Current state
The church has retained the original walls of the chancel and the nave, except for the western wall, demolished during the early modern reconstruction. There are 28 mason marks belonging to 11 stonemasons on the stone blocks. Inside the chancel, there is a cross vault from the time of the renovation in 1914, but supported on Romanesque corbels, and the original chancel arcade, now with walled up imposts. There are also remnants of valuable 12th / 13th century wall paintings on the chancel arch and the chancel walls.
bibliography:
Krasnowolski B., Leksykon zabytków architektury Małopolski, Warszawa 2013.
Kubica E., Katalog zabytków wczesnośredniowiecznej architektury monumentalnej Małopolski, Rusi i Wołynia, „Materiały i Sprawozdania Rzeszowskiego Ośrodka Archeologicznego”, tom XVII, Rzeszów 1996.
Świechowski Z., Architektura romańska w Polsce, Warszawa 2000.