History
Chapel of the Holy Spirit was built at the end of the 13th century, next to the hospital funded by the prince of Szczecin Otto I. In 1363, its foundation was confirmed by the prince’s son, Barnim III. The chapel was probably enlarged at the end of the 15th century. It survived the Reformation in the first half of the 16th century, because the activities of the neighboring shelter were not stopped, but in 1634 it was destroyed by a fire associated with the Thirty Years’ War. Reconstruction was carried out only at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. Around 1743, a tower was added to it, which burned down in 1784 after a lightning strike. In 1945, the chapel was destroyed again. In the years 1967-1969 it was rebuilt for the needs of the public library.
Architecture
The chapel was situated within the town walls, in the southern part of the Pyrzyce, near the Bańska Gate. It was built of granite stones and bricks used to made architectural details. It was built on a rectangular plan. After extension towards the west at the end of the 15th century by about 6.6 meters, it had dimensions of 15.2 x 9.6 meters. So it was a simple aisleless structure, covered with a gable roof with a turret on the ridge, of relatively large dimensions but without the chancel separated from the outside.
The roof of the chapel from the east and west was closed with triangular gables, of which the eastern one was decorated with three blendes in a pyramidal arrangement. The chapel was not supported by buttresses. Its longitudinal façades were pierced with pointed windows, while the largest window in the eastern façade was pierced up to the gable part. The windows of the southern wall were smaller and less numerous, probably due to the hospital buildings on that side. The southern wall also housed the so-called alms niche and a portal to the hospital rooms.
In the northern wall there was a Gothic portal with a stepped, pointed jamb, flanked by two round blendes with tracery fillings of quatrefoil motifs. In addition, a bas-relief panel with the image of animals was placed above the portal, and a frieze made of rosettes was led under the eaves of the roof. Distinguishing the northern façade with the greatest number of decorations was due to the fact that it was the façade facing one of the main roads of the town and the market square.
Current state
The chapel has preserved its perimeter walls to the present day, but it has not avoided early modern transformations. The most modernized was the western façade, including the gable, windows and portal. The remaining windows were also enlarged, a new crowning cornice was created, the eastern gable was plastered and the pinnacles were removed from it. The Gothic northern portal has been preserved, the blendes flanking it, the bas-relief panel above and partially the frieze.
bibliography:
Lemcke H., Die Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler des Regierungsbezirks Stettin, Der Kreis Pyritz, Stettin 1906.
Pilch J., Kowalski S., Leksykon zabytków Pomorza Zachodniego i ziemi lubuskiej, Warszawa 2012.
Rymar E., Pyrzyce i okolice przez wieki. Tom I – do roku 1950, Pyrzyce 2009.