History
The first church, probably wooden, in the settlement on the outskirts of Gniezno, was supposedly founded by the Symon family, owners of the village of Ludziska. This occurred before 1255, when it was recorded in a copy of the charter of Kłecko, issued by Prince Bolesław the Pious (“ecclesie beati Laurencii Gnezne dicte”), which indicated that the local inhabitants were obligated to pay fees to the Gniezno church. In 1309, the first local parish priest, a certain Sobiesław, was recorded (“Sobeslao rectore ecclesie sancti Laurentii apud Gnesnam”).
In 1331, the church of St. Lawrence’s was destroyed during the Teutonic Knights invasion led by Dietrich von Altenburg, during which both the chartered town of Gniezno, likely not yet surrounded by defensive walls, and the suburbs with surrounding settlements were burned down (only the cathedral and the Franciscan friary were spared). St. Lawrence’s church was rebuilt at an unknown date. This likely occurred by 1348, when, according to records, the parish was administered by a certain Jan of Dziekczyn. A late Gothic brick church was likely erected on the site of the 14th-century building in the first half of the 16th century.
The medieval church functioned until the early 19th century, when it was devastated by Napoleon’s soldiers during the Moscow campaign of 1812. It was then used as a granary until it was closed due to its poor condition and the threat of collapse. Following renovations in 1817, the building’s sacral function was restored. In 1896, due to the increased number of parishioners, two side aisles, a porch, and a turret were added to the Gothic body. During the work in 1935-1936, a transept and a new chancel were built, and the interior was covered with a barrel vault.
Architecture
The church was built in the former Gniezno suburb called Cierpięgi or Jeleń. In the late Gothic period, it was a n aisleless building on a rectangular plan with truncated eastern corners, without a chancel separated externally, with a quadrilateral, three-story tower adjacent rather atypically to the western part of the northern wall. The tower was reinforced at the corners with high, stepped buttresses, and its elevations were decorated with long, plastered niches with semicircular heads and horizontal plastered stripes just below the eaves of the roof. The church’s nave may also have been supported by buttresses, especially if the interior was vaulted. The church’s windows were most likely pointed, tall, and splayed. The entrance may originally have been located in the western part of the southern wall or possibly in the northern wall.
Current state
Early modern construction works, especially those carried out in the interwar period and at the end of the 19th century, largely obliterated the original architectural shape of the late Gothic church. Only the tower and partially the west facade have survived from the 16th century, while the rest (aisles, transept, porch, sacristy, southern chapel, southern turret) entirely come from modern times. The chancel has undergone a major reconstruction.
bibliography:
Maluśkiewicz P., Gotyckie kościoły w Wielkopolsce, Poznań 2008.
Muraszko M., Początki kościoła pod wezwaniem św. Wawrzyńca w Gnieźnie, ”Nasza Przeszłość. Studia z dziejów Kościoła i kultury katolickiej w Polsce”, 120/2013.
Tejszerska A., Gothic church of Saint Lawrence in Gniezno: interwar expansion according to the plans of Lucjan Michałowski and contemporary continuation of the project, „Architectus”, 4 (84)/2025.
Tomala J., Murowana architektura romańska i gotycka w Wielkopolsce, tom 1, architektura sakralna, Kalisz 2007.