History
The church of All Saints was built in the fourth quarter of the 14th century. It was recorded in docuemnts only in 1598, when the consecration of a brick chapel with three altars was mentioned. In 1630 and 1742 the church was damaged by fires. Repairs were carried out in 1783, it was thoroughly renovated in 1836. The third great fire took place in 1944, during the war that devastated Szydłów. During the security works carried out in the years 1945-1949, Gothic polychromes were discovered inside.
Architecture
The church was built of erratic stones and ashlar used for architectural details. It was situated on a hill on the south-western side of the town, in close proximity but outside its defensive walls. It was made of a rectangular, single nave and a lower and narrower, also four-sided chancel on the eastern side, to which a sacristy was added later. Simple elevations were separated by medium-sized pointed windows in stone frames and two moulded entrance portals to the nave, south and west one. The northern façade of the church, in accordance with the medieval building tradition, was devoid of openings. Inside, a chamfered portal connected the chancel with the sacristy, and a semi-circular arcade with impost cornices connected the chancel with the nave. Both the walls of the chancel with the arcade and the nave were covered in the 14th century with colorful figural paintings.
Current state
Although the church is a bit neglected today (old, dirty, ugly and peeling in some places plaster), the perimeter walls of the nave, chancel and sacristy have been preserved. The vestibule on the west side is modern, probably also the two western buttresses strengthening the façade. The eastern gable of the chancel with a large recess and one of the windows of the nave had to be rebuilt. The eastern chancel window has been bricked up and is only visible from the inside. The church has three ogival windows in Gothic frames from the south and three Gothic portals. Inside, fourteenth-century wall polychromes have been preserved on large surfaces.
bibliography:
Architektura gotycka w Polsce, red. M.Arszyński, T.Mroczko, Warszawa 1995.