History
The parish church in Żarnowiec was erected in 1396, presumably with the relocation of Żarnowiec village in 1396 from the area of the Łany Wielkie and not from the foundation of Kazimierz the Great, which has been repeated in previous studies. In 1524 the church was seriously destroyed by the fire that took over the entire town. In 1528, from the Krzysztof Szydlowiec foundation, the Chancellor and the son of the castellan of Żarnowiec, church was completely rebuilt, as evidenced by a plaque with the Szydłowiec coat of arms over the northern portal. In 1836, a porch was added to the west. In 1910, the church underwent a partial reconstruction in the neo-gothic style.
Architecture
The church is made of bricks on stone foundations, orientated, aisleless. Its compact nave is covered with a high gable roof. From the east adjoined a slightly lower, three-side ended chancel, covered with a separate gable roof. A small, quadrangular sacristy covered with a mono-pitched roof was added to the chancel from the north. The elevations of the church have a clearly separated stone pedestal, and are additionally varied with rhythmically spaced buttresses and ogival, two-light windows between them from the south and east, filled with sandstone traceries. In the northern façade, there is a gothic, pointed, moulded side portal.
The interior of the three-bay nave is covered with an apparent wooden cross-rib vault, and the interior of the two-bay chancel is covered with a cross-rib vault, just like the sacristy on the north side.
bibliography:
Pilch J., Leksykon zabytków architektury Dolnego Śląska, Warszawa 2005.
Website zabytek.pl, Kościół par. pw. Narodzenia Najświętszej Marii Panny i Jakuba Starszego Żarnowiec.